#look I CAN accept the idea that they’re different ages/ranges of maturity

[thejadecount]

I’ve seen people’s take on the ages of the MM turtles (Leo’s the oldest, Mikey’s the oldest, Raph and Mikey are twins, etc) and here’s MY TAKE:

They’re quadruplets

Look I don’t know about you guys but for once in my time in the fandom I’ve truly felt they’re the same age (or relatively on the maturity level). It could be the teenager/pre-teen VAs, but I don’t get the same ‘they’re different ages’ energy from the MM boys.

Like although Leo’s the anxious one I don’t get the feeling he’s the most anxious because he’s the oldest and the leader and blah blah blah. He’s just a teen full of anxiety.

And Mikey doesn’t feel like the youngest to me (because the scene he had with talking about the watermelon being like his head) but not like the oldest either (because he’s equally fooling around with Raph and Donnie). He’s isn’t some young goofball baby of the family but not a cool oldest sibling either.

And same thing with Raph and Donnie. Donnie for more obvious reasons mostly because the VA I’m gonna be honest but just his general demeanor. He feels like a teenager who happens to be smart, not someone who’s smart but happens to be a teenager.

And Raph doesn’t give me ‘edgy wishes to be leader roughy guy’ he’s just a jock teen who wants to do sports. He doesn’t give off the same ‘second oldest’ energy all the other Raphs (minus Rise Raph) have.

TL;DR: It could just be the VAs and the fact we only got a few scenes in the trailer, but I don’t feel like the MM boys have like ‘youngest to oldest’ energies like most TMMT incarnations do. When I compare them side-by-side they all just feel like quadruplets with different personalities.

[my-writings-and-musings]

Idea, a group of young human liaisons (late teen/young adult) join the lost light crew and the different crew members essentially adopts them (any bots of your choice)

That's adorable so absolutely yes! I chose the bots I thought most likely to adopt in any capacity.

Tailgate

·Being amongst the tiniest bots on the ship, and having loved human culture whilst never meeting a human, compounds his excitement at their arrival to nearly critical levels. They're so tiny! They can answer all his earth questions! They can go on missions together and he can show them around the galaxy! His first step is to learn how to tell humans apart and to memorize all their names, as well as anything they find important about themselves, so that way they'll feel welcome.

·During this introduction it's revealed these humans are on the younger side, and his reaction immediately becomes one of shock. You're all still little ones?! Not done growing even?! The explanations that human development is quite different fall on deaf audials; he knows what it's like to be small and new in the galaxy, and he won't let anything hurt these protoforms!

·The liaison team now has a permanent guardian, and they quickly learn that his size doesn't tell his full story. Of course, it doesn't hurt that he's still twice the height of the average human, so calling him "tiny" doesn't make much sense to any of them. Being so much taller is something he absolutely adores experiencing for a change, and that combined with his super strength leads to a lot of piggy back rides for the whole crew.

·If anyone, bot or con or whatever, says a mean word to even one of them he's on the warpath. Think you're a big tough guy, huh?! Picking on his little buddies?! Well, he's not gonna give you a chance to pick on somebody your own size! Unless you offer a heartfelt apology, and if the human in question accepts that, then everything is just fine! But he will punch you if he hears this is recurring!

·The various liaisons start referring to him as their "big brother" and once the meaning of that is explained he's absolutely touched. Him? A part of their family? Movie nights henceforth involve him being surrounded by a group of young humans, just chilling around their adoptive older sibling who happens to be six million years old, and should anyone glance at his visor they'll find it absolutely shining in the dim light.

Ratchet

·Having worked with and studied humans of this age group in the past, he's far less upset and far more worried by their arrival, but he pretends he's merely the former. The truth is that he knows their species is especially vulnerable at this age, and getting the rest of the crew to understand that will be an impossible task, even if he asks them to imagine a delicate protoform taking nearly two decades to mature instead of a few hours and to try and comprehend how much trouble that would be.

·His first step is to establish that he's their doctor, one fully capable of handling human medicine, and he quickly catches the rest of his team up to speed. Every medic needs to be able to meet the needs of every crewmember, and these juvenile humans are part of the crew now, as well as their responsibility for the sake of diplomatic relations... Somehow that last part doesn't stress him out in the slightest.

·These humans will quickly find his gruff to be little more than a personality trait. When he's with a patient, specifically one who's a little frightened, his demeanor rapidly softens just as his touch becomes gentle even to a being quite soft and tiny by comparison. For a species not necessarily accustomed to medical care just... whenever they need it, the young liaisons can't help but like him. His reaction to the fact that most humans can't afford medical care is... a very long sigh.

·His attention to these new patients extends well beyond appointment hours, though he does try not to be overbearing. But he just needs to be certain; are they exercising enough? Does the atmosphere of the ship upset their respiratory systems in any way? Is there any chance the modification to the lighting system was ineffective and they're not getting enough vitamin D? Are they eating all their vegetables?!

·It's impossible for the group to ignore the gigantic alien robot very obviously fretting over them like a mother hen, and thus he often gets a "Yes, mom" in response to his queries from them, but in a good natured way. He huffs at first but their genuine appreciation for his efforts is... well, he'd be lying if he said his actions weren't driven by something more than medical duty. Maybe he's the first Cybertronian with a kind of maternal instinct, who knows? What matters is that his "children" are all safe and healthy, and he certainly doesn't start smiling when "Dr. Mom" becomes what he's listed as in their communication contact list.

Ultra Magnus/Minimus Ambus

·Rodimus agreed to this diplomatic mission despite all his warnings (and pleadings) to say no and find some other way to encourage a good relationship between the species. He has experience with humans, specifically of this exact age range, and while that relationship is one he treasures he's not looking to put any humans in potential danger again. He is, of course, duly ignored and the group is brought on board.

·For the sake of fostering a welcoming and structured environment, he memorizes their names in advance and has them all come to his office for an abridged two hour orientation on the ship and its rules. Knowing they have to be on the move often for neurological development is the only reason he doesn't keep them for a proper five hour orientation. It goes relatively well, but he's less distressed by their lack of attention than he is by how intimidating they seem to find him.

·For some reason this bothers him, no matter how fine he is with bots finding him to be frightening, seeing humans flinch from his presence actually hurts him. So he endeavors to be... friendly! If he earned the nickname "Uncle Magnus" with one human, he can do it again! The best strategy he can think of isn't actually that off base; he'll try to mentor them in their individual pursuits. Dropping down in height whenever he can, typically by getting on a knee to ensure he doesn't tower over them, also proves to be a big help.

·Initially he's determined to keep his Minimus self hidden from them completely, down to the very existence of his split identity. It's less about size, as even his most base form still stands well above the tallest liason, than it is about respect. He wants to be an inspiration to these little ones, and Ultra Magnus is obviously the more impressive of the two. It's only once one particularly affectionate liaison gives him a hug, or more accurately an attempt at one around his offered hand, that he feels compelled to reconsider.

·It makes him nervous for weeks, contemplating the potential fallout of being honest with them, and how it could ruin everything... In the end he blames his own moral compass for forcing him to be honest. He gathers the liaisons together and explains the entirety of his identity in detail, taking all of their questions and praying he won't see any kind of disappointment, before finally removing his armor and "introducing" them to Minimus. The reaction is far from negative. There are exclamations of "botception" and "nesting dolls" in the wild surprise that follows, but nothing that could even be interpreted as dissapoint, and in fact the young humans are only that much more amazed by their "Uncle Minimags". It takes everything he is not to cry.

Swerve

·He knows enough about human culture to have seen that this particular age group tends to party, and is also way more likely to enjoy pop culture, so he's delighted when they join up. Of course he introduces himself, but he doesn't need to mention much more than his bar before he has their full attention and fascination. The Manhattan sized spaceship run by giant alien robots has a bar?! They're all begging to see it and he's so thrilled he forgets he can transform and runs there with them.

·Their amazement only doubles when night comes and they get to see the place in full swing, but he makes sure they're safely seated on the bar itself, to avoid squishing. As always he's able to chat endlessly to these new arrivals, and his knowledge of human culture quite surprises them. Even if there's a fair amount he doesn't know, the fact that he's aware of anything at all shocks them.

·The rush to get him caught up is a shared effort between the liaisons. Does he know what social media is? Would he like to have an account? For once he's the overwhelmed one and he has to work to keep up with everything they give him, but the attention and genuine interest these little humans have in his thoughts and experiences is... it's a good thing he's got some help around the bar to help him stay caught up. Because these little sort of protoforms have convinced him to get Twitter.

·Movie nights become so massive they actually have to consider expanding the bar. Not only are old movies watched, but all the latest releases as well, some as soon as they're in theaters because look they know it's not technically legal but it's promoting good diplomacy so... However, even when he starts serving and mixing human alcohol, he's quite firm on requiring the humans who drink it to be of age. There's still fun drinks for the younger ones though.

·The humans bond with other bots, but as their first contact on the ship and the most fun he's always got a few of them by his side. Maybe he's just better with other species? He doesn't really know or care, but somehow when there's a little moment and they all take a selfie together he just... he just feels not alone. It's something he keeps a little on the down low, but he's a bit too easy to read for the humans not to notice, and since they're good kids they pretend it's a secret that they mean the world to him. On especially rowdy nights they even help clean up, and each human develops their own little nickname for him, making it less like he adopts them and much more like they adopt him.

Whirl

·Humans come in fun size too? Neat! But he's admittedly a tad curious when their age is explained and he realizes that, in their own super weird alien way, these are still protoforms. Something almost akin to worry flashes in his spark for an instant. Still, he plays it cool when they're brought on board, pretending to be no more interested than any other bot they're introduced to.

·Before he meets them, he's told quite firmly that these humans are to be protected at all costs, and that any behavior seen as antagonizing in the slightest will be punished. He ensures the top bots he's no Decepticon and that squishies aren't on his radar. But he's admittedly a little concerned that they'll notice his... peculiarities. His own species recoils at his appearance, and while he can handle that, getting it from aliens would be unpleasant.

·But there's no such reaction. They ask him his name, share theirs, and react with the same enthusiasm they do to every bot and even ask the same questions. It's pleasantly surprising, until they all get excited upon his description of his alt mode, at which point it's freaking fantastic. It's with pride that he confirms he's the only flying bot on the crew, and when he's immediately corrected by a random passerby, he explains that he meant the only one who could fly worth a damn. He's greeted by a chorus of laughter for his amazing joke and he vows that he'd die for each and every one of these little squishies.

·All it takes is one hint of a request and he's offering to take them all for a lift through the hangar. This is just the beginning of an impossibly interesting friendship. Eventually he just carries them all around in his cockpit whenever they're walking anywhere, or on his shoulders if they won't all fit, and either way there's a row of humans sitting across him. This friendship is why he's so mortified when his identity of an Empurata is accidentally revealed and the questions begin.

·He reluctantly answers and braces for the impending disgust or revulsion to realize he's been mutilated. But it never comes. Instead, there's genuine sympathy and anger on his behalf, and their little hands reach out to comfort him. Initially he can only be awed. How are these little, fragile, and oh so very young protoforms better than so many members of his species?! Does it matter? They shall be called; "The Whirl Scouts", trademark pending. They'll all have to be trained in combat for their own safety, and he will be their mom now, because he won't just die for them he'll kill for them. They're his kids and his family.

[classic80sand90smovieloves2]

Meeting and Dating (Old) Vito Corleone

(Not my gif)(Requested by anonymous)

(This repeats a few things from the young Vito headcanons but I rewrote them so they’re not completely the same. Hope you enjoy!)

- For the sake of these headcanons, let’s say that him and Carmela split sometime in the 1930′s; amicably, of course. 

- You’d heard of and saw Vito far before you met him. Growing up, you were told plenty of stories about his generosity and kindness, as well as his ruthlessness. Every now and again your friends would point him out on the streets, whispering in your ear about who he was and the things they’d heard about him. 

- Even as a teenager, you found him handsome in a way no one else in your life was though you kept your attraction to him a secret, not wanting to hear the teasing you’d inevitably get from your friends; who were only interested in the boys your age. 

- You finally met Vito for the first time after you began working at a small pet shop. By then you were a young woman, far more mature and with more life and dating experience; though you hadn’t had much luck with boys your age. 

- The older man had come into the shop when you were first starting out. His presence completely caught you off guard; never in your life would you have imagined The Godfather as a pet owner, let alone a kitten owner which you could assume from his purchases.

- You really had to work to keep your composure as he made his way over to the front counter. You were working alongside the owner, who greeted the man warmly as he approached. 

- The two of them talked for a little while before Vito’s eyes fell on you. The owner introduced you to him, explaining that you were a new hire as the man greeted you with a small, friendly smile. Your boss and The Don exchanged a few more words; some about you, as he paid for his things

- As he was leaving, he gave you a final smile, telling you it was nice to meet you. Your heart skipped a beat and you quickly realized that your childhood crush had not faded nearly as much as you’d hoped it had. 

- You’d soon come to realize that The Don’s visits to the pet shop were a weekly thing, he’d always buy a small supply of what he needed instead of buying in bulk like most of your customers. You assumed he liked the atmosphere of the pet shop or that he enjoyed doing something normal in the midst of his crazy routine. 

- After your training process ended, the owner of the shop began to leave you in charge every now and again. You mainly just worked the cash register while he did something in the back of the shop but occasionally he’d leave you all alone while he went out to run some errands or when he came down with something. This was when you were able to talk to and get to know Vito. 

- It started as small conversations while you rang him up then the two of you began to talk more and more. He’d tell you stories, ask about your life, tell jokes, etc. You began to consider him a friend, someone you always enjoyed seeing whenever he came in. 

- Then one week he didnt show up. His absence worried you so when your boss received a call from the man, informing you that he was sick and asking if he could drop off some supplies for him, you were fairly relieved.

- Your boss would have done it himself but he was busy with business matters, he asked if you’d be willing before informing the man that you’d be there in a little while. So after your usual shift, you took the mans usual purchases and written down address in hand, and made your way over to his gorgeous home.

- Once you saw the state he was in, you insisted on providing him with some kind of help. He found your worry and eagerness both amusing and heartwarming.

- He thanked you before welcoming you to sit beside him on one of his many armchairs, telling you that your company and conversation would be enough help.

- You aren’t sure how exactly the subject of relationships had come up but it had. He’d asked you whether you were seeing someone, saying something along the lines of “a beautiful young lady like yourself should be beating men off with sticks” which made you laugh.

- You told him you were single and that you hadn’t had many boyfriends before, pausing before telling him that you were pretty sure you just couldn’t stand men your age.

- He gave you a smile, nodding thoughtfully before asking if you’d ever been with someone older. The question had just a hint of a suggestion to it which was not missed on you though you figured it was just your mind jumping to hopeful conclusions.

- You answered with a teasing “apparently not old enough”, sending him a smile before asking if you could make him something to eat, seeing as it was just around a normal dinner time. He agreed as long as you’d join him.

- So there you were, sitting with the man you’d fawned over for years, eating soup and making pleasant conversation. That was when he finally asked you the question you’d always longed to hear.

“Y/n. I may not be exactly what you’re looking for but I know that I enjoy your company and I think you enjoy mine. I was hoping that you would join me for a proper dinner once I’m well again.”

- The excitement with which you agreed assured him that you were genuinely interested in him. He smiled back at you and the two of you finished dinner before happily saying goodbye.

- He took you out a few days later. The two of you went to a nice family owned Italian restaurant which he may or may not have bought out for the night. Time flew by while you were with him and you felt disappointed when you had to finally call it a night. You obviously agreed when he asked if he’d be seeing you again sometime.

- You had your first kiss a week into your relationship. The two of you had been sat in his backyard when you went in to get the two of you drinks. When you returned and handed him a cup, he gently took your hand and pulled you towards him, pressing his lips to yours. You smiled into the kiss and pecked his lips after you both pulled away from each other.

- You may not have the most conventional relationship but it’s safe to say that you’re truly happy together.

- He tends to save his affection for when your alone, deeming it only proper to refrain from such things in public. He does lighten up over the years as pda grows more and more acceptable. 

- Getting to hear the different stories from his youth, the things he liked to do, the music he listened to, etc. You think it’s sweet to watch and listen to him reminisce, not to mention interested. 

- Fresh flowers on your bedside every morning. 

- This man smells so good all of the time. You don’t know what it is but you love it. 

- Hand kisses. 

- Getting coffee together.

- He likes to rest his hand on your knee whenever you’re sitting beside him.

- Relaxing in his backyard with him. He’s quite fond of the sun and sitting in it with you is one of his favorite pastimes.

- Wine is practically a staple in your lives. Wine-tasting dates, wine with your meals, wine as decoration; the fermented fruit is relentless.

- You’re constantly plucking cat hair from his clothes.

- Stroking/rubbing each others backs when you’re standing beside one another. 

- He’s grown fond of brushing your hair for you; there’s just something so soothing about it. It also allows him to have an extra quiet moment with you which is mainly what he enjoys about it. 

- Lots of pecks on the lips. 

- Sitting on his lap or on the arm of his chair. 

- Gardening together. You have matching sunhats and gloves. 

- Making notes for him and helping to arrange his calendar. You’ll occasionally have to remind him that he has to meet with someone or go to some party. 

- Even so, he tries to keep you out of as much of the family business as possible, not wanting you to be put in danger or get scared off. 

- You’re going to have to keep track of a lot of names and faces. Between his friends, coworkers, and family; there’s enough people to fill an entire town. 

- He’s a busy man so there’s going to be days where you hardly see him. He likes hearing that you missed him, it warms his heart even though he doesn’t like the idea of you being less than happy.

- You’re always amazed by how people act with him and just how much he controls the city. For someone who acts so kind and humble, its hard to imagine him doing some of the things you’re told he’s done.

- He tends to just smile and brush off all your compliments. Anytime you mention his appearance, he’ll joke about being “just an old man” and telling you that he should be the one giving compliments. 

- Since he’s older than you by quite a few years, he’s more insecure and prone to getting jealous than his younger counterpart or if you were his age. You’re a beautiful young girl with the world at your fingertips, what are you doing with him? You may like older men but wouldn’t you like someone closer to your age? 

- Whenever he’s feeling that way, he’ll keep it to himself, not wanting to betray his usual professional demeanor. When you’re finally alone together, you can always tell that something’s wrong and will assure him that you love him very much which always seems to fix things. 

- He’s not a huge cuddler but he does enjoy having you close beside him. When you do cuddle you’ll usually just lay your head on his shoulder or chest while he wraps his arms around you. 

- Sicilian pet names. He’s also quite fond of “angel” and nicknames that mean something to the both of you. 

- Your safety is one of the most important things to him so he wants you to tell him whenever something happens or if you have a sick feeling about something. He has bodyguards for you on call at all times. 

- He can’t help but love when you worry for him; it’s just a reminder that you truly love him. 

- Catching him watching you a lot. Whenever you ask “what”, he wraps his arms around you and asks how he got so lucky. 

- Quiet days spent by each other’s side.

- Have you ever been to Italy? No? Well that just won’t do! He’d insist on bringing you one day and wouldn’t take no for an answer.

- You get spoiled even though you constantly tell him that he really doesn’t have to which only makes him want to spoil you more. It’s not that you don’t appreciate it all, you just don’t want him to think you’re only in it for the money though you assume he’s a good enough people reader to see that for himself. 

- He always makes sure that you feel valued and important, not just some woman he keeps around to act as a pretty face. 

- Vito cherishes companionship; he doesn’t enjoy being alone. It doesn’t matter what you do so long as you do it together. 

- He likes to eat with you as much as he can. Having dinner together is commonplace in your relationship. 

- Big family get-together’s. 

- It’s going to take a little while for his children to warm up to you for obvious reasons. Just stick it out; once they see how much you genuinely care for him, they’ll welcome you with open arms and give their blessings. 

- Comforting hugs during rough times. 

- The two of you never fight. Vito; in general, does not lose his temper very often, he prides himself on that. If there’s an issue, you’ll resolve it like adults through an actual conversation or it will stay unresolved. He doesn’t have time for childish behavior so if you want to quarrel, take it somewhere else. 

- He tells you he loves you often. It’s important to him that you know he does and that you feel like he does. 

- Once again; Vito is a very traditional man so marriage is a must. He’ll most likely propose to you after a year or so of dating.

[dragonheadskilax]

Gonna annotate about Leon’s entire character to y’all because he’s so so good, and every time I see someone say he’s a bad character for crushing on a man who doesn’t like him back i’m >:(

An archer born in a Zofian town. His manner of speech and conduct are unmistakably similar to a young lady's. He grew up care-free thanks to his parents and their laid-back environment. He was often teased for his effeminately good looks, and he always responded with a test of skill--which he would win, improving his reflexes. He joined the army to search for someone he could devote his heart to. When Valbar decided to accompany Celica, he naturally tagged along, and provided much assistance during the journey. He has a frank personality, saying what's on his mind; he's also the type of person who wears his heart on his sleeve. After the war, he became a merchant and it's said he lived a free and happy life.

The area of Zofia do follow Mila who is known as the goddess of love so considering how Leon is sappy and having the title “True of Heart”, Leon would totally be into lovecore aesthetic.

He may act feminine, use female gendered words in other languages, and would call himself a maiden, but as far as everything else he’s crude and mean and doesn’t hold back on filtering himself even if he’s talking to a kid.

Leon left home when he was young, so considering how this game series does have a thing of making 15 year old kiddies soldiers I’m guessing he left home at around that age.

To ‘wear your heart on your sleeve’ means to be honest and openly show your feelings or emotions. He’s painfully honest and drop hints he’s not straight.

"...Blerg. I don't like sea travel, and it sure doesn't like me. I'm nauseous, I'm sunburned, and I'm wind-beaten. I look like death's damp leftovers. But YOU look fresh as a daisy, Priestess! What's your secret? ...What? Nothing? NOTHING?! But you look like a dew-dappled angel! Augh, that's so annoying... Well, youth is great and all, but don't expect it to last."

There’s that painful honesty.

He sure does focus on his looks. He’s 24, smh Leon don’t think that you’re not gonna last past 30.

"Great. We finally get off that infernal boat, and now it’s the desert. Are you doing this on purpose, Priestess? Is it personal? *sigh* I want to get out of here before I dry up like a mummy. If I turn hideous and Valbar abandons me, it’s your fault. …What did you say? …Valbar isn’t the sort to judge people by their appearance? You think I don’t realize that? I know him FAR better than you! Gods, it really throws me when you’re so rational and correct…"

Still trying hard to get noticed by Valbar.

I like how he’s saying this particular line to a 17 year old, like chill, dude. Be nice.

"When I was a kid, there was this guy that I was head over heels for. He’s the reason I enlisted, actually. Just so I could stay close to him. He died in the first battle we fought. I cried so hard, I thought my eyes were going to float clean out of my skull. Valbar saved me from that. Every time he saw me, he’d take the time to say something. Cheer me up. What can you do with a man like that but fall in love? You’re thinking I’m a tramp, aren’t you? Well, I’m not. It’s hardly my fault that the world is full of wonderful, lovable people. Such a thing really motivates one to get out there and save it."

He made a big decision to leave home and enlist to follow a guy.. Now that he fell in love with Valbar he’s doing anything to follow him, too. I guess what’s different is it had been an unrequited love, even when it was suggested that Valbar knew about it it remained as a crush. Leon loves him at a distance so then he wouldn’t get badly hurt as he once had.

Him saying he’s not a “tramp” is a bit of info I like because people tend to wanna characterize effeminate gay characters as being touchy and wanting to peek at lotsa guys (which isn’t bad but there’s more than one type of guy), but not Leon, he’s more of a yearning for a soul mate kinda guy. He’s not big on lots of physical touch unless he really likes ya. "Hey, hey, now. No more of that." “I'm a friendly fellow, but not the touchy-feely type. All right?"

talking to Valbar “Heh heh. But it's fine. Emotions come in many forms, and as you say, there's no point in hanging on. I'm still glad I have these feelings, and nothing will change that.”

A crush is totally different than being in a relationship so like... I don’t like it when people say he’s a bad character for it. It totally happens to like someone but they don’t swing that way. In Leon’s case he keeps the crush because it feels safer and sappy to have it. Even if he tries his darnest to let Valbar get the hint he Loves loves him, when nothing happens he just accepts that.

talking to Valbar “Just realizing I've been a fool for feeling sorry for myself. Compared to what you've gone through, my worries are nothing.”

Despite the ol’ “keeping his heart on his sleeve” thing Leon has a knack of keeping negative feelings to himself. Probably the type who wouldn’t admit it because it doesn’t feel as big of a deal compared to other’s. This guy needs a hug so bad.

Kamui: “Oh, you're a laugh riot. But anyway, what do you think makes a good man?”

Leon: “Hmm. That's not easily summed up in a few words, but... for starters, he should be kind, strong and mature... while maintaining a boyish innocence. He also needs to listen, but be ready to tell the hard truths when necessary.”

Kamui: “Oh, come on. No one's that perfect.”

Some people take their conversations as being odd or random information or just to express again on how Leon’s gay but I wanna turn more attention on Kamui’s motive for asking in the first place. For someone who tries to not make people take him as gay, and explicitly so in the manga, he sure do wanna know what Leon’s type is if he’s got his eyes on Valbar.

Kamui is kinda right that no one could be perfect but Leon had been describing Valbar, when like,, they’re not even in a relationship… Leon honey… don’t hurt yourself like this. This leads to their next conversation;

Kamui: It's about… what you said before. So what would you do if Valbar ended up being.. the opposite of your ideal?

Leon: Well, that's an absurd question. But in the interest of humoring you and passing the time... Well, I suppose I'd set off looking for a man who met my perfect ideal. A journey like that might actually be kind of... fun.

Kamui: I think that's the first time you and I have agreed on anything.

Kamui could probably tell that Valbar isn’t ever going to return the kind of love Leon wants, and tries to learn what Leon’s thoughts are about that. Because even if he says he doesn’t care much about anything he seems to care about Leon. On the battlefield given his specific quotes for Leon and in these conversations. Kamui tells how his luck went south ever since joining in this journey and he’s only sticking around for the money, but that job he was paid for was done a long time ago at his recruitment quest. So he seems to hang around anyway for his sense of completion on things it seems.

The word ‘journey’ is like music to Kamui’s ears considering his history. It would be a fun writing idea actually of them traveling across Valm picking guys to speed date, well, like in the manga lmaooo but wider ranged.

This would be the first time Leon speaks nicely to Kamui instead of being standoffish and harsh. Kamui sounded really relieved for that. Then when Leon says he doesn’t like him that way Kamui instantly tries to back track lol

"Hello, Kiran! I've prepared some tea. Would you care to join me? I must admit, I was anxious when you first summoned me here. Ugh, don't laugh—it's rude! I may not look worried, but I have my fair share of concern, same as anyone else. Anyway, you've proven yourself more than capable, so I suppose I don't mind sticking around. To be honest, I am eager to return home... But that can wait, I think... Care for another cup?"

He says this when level 40 in FEH. So by this point he’s well acquainted with the player. Him admitted that negative feeling is once again that thing he has of keeping feels in to not seem it’s a big issue. And him wanting to go back home…. boohoo..

(If Valbar lives) Welcomed into the One Kingdom's Brotherhood of Knights, Leon remained at Valbar's side until an injury ended his fighting career. He then took up work as a merchant in the city market, where he lived free, happy, and dauntlessly true to himself to the last.

He better keep that good happy ending 👊

(If Valbar dies) Dealt a grievous blow by Valbar's death, Leon disappeared for a time before returning to join the One Kingdom's Brotherhood of Knights. There, he fought with the strength of a hundred men, and later served as an instructor to new recruits, contributing greatly to the order.

It’s messed up to think of Leon losing someone he loves again….. He should not go through all that again… Where did he disappear to.. Did he turn himself from twink to a bear to take the place of what would’ve been Valbar’s job if he lived (since Valbar ending would’ve been him becoming the instructor)

[socialyawkdude]

A intro to manga, anime and light novels

Hello again, long and first time readers..

Its time for the long-awaited manga review section. Now before we get into the nitty gritty there a few things we need to cover first. Seeing that I will be coving light novels, mangas, and anime there are a few terms that we need to go over. Most of these terms will be covering the different genres and subgenres. Seeing that not everyone is literate in this word, it may be a good idea to cover this before we get into the good stuff.

What I'm about to go over are the genres of light novels, manga, and anime. Like many television shows and movies; manga and anime are broken up into different genres. Many of these are pretty self-explanatory, while others are more unique, as you are about to find out. I have included a few examples with of the sub-genres. I'm no expert, as I’m learning along with a few of you. Some of the examples I've given are some that I've read or heard of.

 List of Major Anime/Manga Genres

Action

Adventure

Comedy

Drama

Slice of Life

Fantasy

Magic

Supernatural

Horror

Mystery

Psychological

Romance

Sci-Fi

 Looking at this list you can see many familiar genres of movies and TV, that you may watch. I won't go into a detailed description of these, because everyone should know these. Now for the sub-genres, it's a bit of a different story. Many of these are unique to anime and manga. It is these that I will give a little description along with a popular anime or manga.

 List of Anime Subgenres

Cyberpunk= This type of anime is a subgenre of sci-fi. It usually displays a future where society has become more ingrained with technology at the expense of social order. The setting is typically a dystopian future where the technology may be doing more harm than good. 

Game= The game category encompasses shows revolving around the idea of gaming and playing. The anime can feature a card game, board game, puzzle game, or even a virtual online game. As long as it concerns any playable game of any kind, it belongs in this category. Sometimes, even video game-based shows can count in this selection.

Ecchi= The word ecchi comes from the sound of H in the word hentai, which in turn means pervert in Japanese. This sub-genre is generally accepted as being full of sexually provocative scenes (mild enough to be viewed by the general audience) and scenarios derived from innuendos and humorous situations. It’s a fact that ecchi shows are taking an upswing nowadays as more and more titles are produced every season. More often than not, ecchi is paired up with comedy as both genres compliment each other well. This, in turn, serves as a buffer that prevents the shows from crossing the line and delving into something less appropriate for general audiences. 

Demons= Originally just an infrequent theme, the rise of demonic characters and themes have given rise to this sub-genre. The term demon does not only encompass literal demon characters. It also extends to other entities such as monsters, beasts, ghosts, and other demon-type figures. The demons present can come from biblical backgrounds or come from Japanese culture. Believe it or not, this category doesn’t just come hand-in-hand with the horror genre; it surprisingly blends well with other genres as well. 

Harem= If you see a reluctant male character surrounded by multiple female characters who all adore him, then you’re probably watching an anime of the harem sub-genre. This type of show typically features more than two female characters go head-over-heels for a single male character. Anime in this category is typically within the comedy and romance genre. It's possible that a harem anime can have no romance and feature mostly slapstick comedy.

Josei= Josei is actually a demographic but is also considered a general category in anime. It specifically targets female viewers around the age range of 18-40. These shows depict life and romance in a more mature light, usually with more grounded realism and less idealistic fantasies. The sub-genre is fairly wide and doesn't necessarily have to focus on romance. It merely needs a narrative that caters to the mature woman. Josei originated from manga during the 80′s. Girls who grew up reading shoujo stories from previous decades wanted stories for adults.

Martial Arts= Martial arts play a big role in every anime that has fighting/battles in it. Whether it's hand-to-hand combat, swordplay, gun fighting, or armed combat, there’s some kind of martial art element that plays through them. But did you know that there are shows that are primarily focused on martial arts itself and their battle techniques? There’s a lot of them, and they mainly involve hand-to-hand combat and technician battles.  

Kids= A lot of people say that anime is just for kids, but that’s not really true. As a matter of fact, there are only a few numbers of anime that are precisely catered towards children. These shows are contained within the kids' sub-genre. These shows are mild, light, and insightful, which makes them perfect for children 12 and under. 

Historical= As the name suggests, historical anime revolves around events in history and moments of antiquity. Shows of this sub-genre are typically set in Ancient Japan and the feudal period. Other settings such as the Middle Ages and medieval period of Europe exist but they’re much more rare in anime. As long as the time or setting (or even elements) are old and ancient, then the series can be considered a historical anime. 

Hentai= Hentai literally translates to "pervert" in Japanese. This is the R-18 (mature) domain of the anime world. This sub-genre commonly depicts nudity and highly explicit content. Unlike ecchi, the focus here is on explicit sexual content rather than on storytelling and narrative progression. That is why the shows in this category are usually brief and lacking in substance.

Isekai= Isekai translates to "another world." This sub-genre typically has a     narrative where a protagonist somehow gets transported to a different     world. The new world is more often than not in a fantasy setting,     occasionally with traits pulled from JRPG games.

This category of anime exploded during the 2010′s and arguably dominated the decade. A good portion of isekai anime is adapted not from the manga but rather from light novels. The most popular series in this sub-genre maybe Sword Art Online. While the world featured there was just virtual reality, it did feature a fantasy setting that would be mimicked in other anime. 

 Military= As the name implies, this sub-genre involves the military in one way or another. War may also be a huge part of military anime. One thing to note about this category is that it is often coupled with the mecha and action genre.

Mecha= Mecha stands for mechanical (as in mechanical units or robots). You’ll never see a mecha anime without a robot or mechanical suit in it. That’s the most important element of it. And while this sub-genre is rising in fame as the days go by, it almost always uses a standard formula to carry the plot. As a general trend, mecha is often seen alongside the military, sci-fi, and action genre.

This may very well be the most iconic anime sub-genre as there is a multitude of memorable shows in this category. The mecha can be considered to be one of Japan's most popular exports. Some of the earlier iconic titles from the late 70s and 80′s include Mobile Suit Gundam, Mazinger Z, and Super Dimension Fortress Macross. Neon Genesis Evangelion is considered to be an iconic and dark deconstruction of the genre as it examined the psyche of young pilots. GurrenLagann was a massive hit that brought the genre back to its hot-blooded and idealistic roots. With a rabid fan-base that loves mecha designs, this genre is one that has been consistently popular over the years. 

Music= Anime shows in the music sub-genre aren’t that popular nowadays, but they do exist and they are very timely. These shows typically focus on singing, dancing, or playing musical instruments. These usually fit within the larger categories of comedy and drama.

Parody= A parody anime is one where countless numbers of other anime references are showcased throughout the plot. It might be a popular running gag, a famous symbol, a character reference, or any other attempt at bringing another show into its domain. One anime worthy to note is Gintama. They often use similar elements from other anime to showcase in their own show.

Police= The police sub-genre emphasizes the life and struggles of law enforcement in their line of duty. Police-based characters have shown up in numerous shows and     there are now anime that could be considered as police procedural. This genre isn't exclusive to police officers; detectives, investigators, and enforcers of any type are included as well. 

Post-Apocalyptic= Post-apocalyptic anime basically show that is set in a world that is in a dystopian state. This could mean the world is destroyed and/or humans are nearly extinct. Post-apocalyptic settings were merely a theme in the past, but an influx of titles bearing this backdrop over the years have made it become a sub-genre on its own. This type of anime has become more and more popular by the day. 

Reverse Harem= A reverse harem anime is typically a harem series where the gender roles are switched around. There is one female character surrounded by multiple male characters who are all potential love interests. Like the traditional harem genre, anime of this variety is usually within the comedy and romance genre.

School= There are countless anime that use the school as a setting. An anime can be considered a part of the school sub-genre if a school is the primary setting and the anime deals mostly with school and student life. This type of anime is usually seen within the comedy genre, though there are some entries in drama as well. 

Seinen= Seinen is actually a demographic but is also considered to be a category in anime. It’s a sub-genre that specifically targets male viewers around the age range of 18-40. The shows here are depicted in a more mature light and often include more explicit content such as gore, sex, and violence. More cerebral narratives are present as well.

Shoujo= Shoujo refers to the demographic of young girls. This sub-genre specifically targets female viewers around the age range of 10-18. Most of the time, shoujo anime works hand-in-hand with the romance and comedy genre, particularly with the former. The protagonist is traditionally female and the narrative focuses on romance as well as personal growth. The world in these shows is often very idealized.

Shoujo-ai= Shoujo-ai literally translates to "girls love." The typically young female characters in shojou-ai anime show love and affection for each other. The romance is usually milder in comparison to the more explicit yuri genre. Shows in this category portray blooming feelings of love and romance rather than intimate relationships. 

Shounen= Shounen refers to the demographic that this type of anime targets, which is male viewers around the age range of 10-18. These shows are usually a combination of action and adventure and are typically adapted from serial manga series. As such, these anime tend to have lengthy runs. One Piece currently has over 800 episodes and is still running. These shows are typically the most popular with mainstream audiences. They have done very well when exported to foreign markets thanks to their relatively simple plots and focus on action.

Shounen-ai= Shounen-ai literally translates to "boys love." The male characters (typically younger boys) in these shows display tender affection for each other. The romance in shounen-ai is generally milder when compared to the more explicit yaoi genre. There is usually more focus on developing romance than actual relationships.

Space= The setting of space has always been massively popular. With so much anime taking place there, it has become a sub-genre in itself. Any anime set in the cosmos can be labeled in this category. Space anime is often within the larger mecha and sci-fi genre. 

Sports= Pretty much self-explanatory, sports anime are shows that cover characters engaging in athletic competition. Popular choices in this category include basketball, tennis, baseball, and soccer. Other sports exist as well (including those that you wouldn’t expect showing up in anime). As time goes on, more and more of these series are produced. Just like real sports, shows in this sub-genre are action-packed!

Super Power= You know you're watching a superpower anime if you're seeing an array of explosive superpowers scrambling right on the screen. If you see bursts of energy balls, death-defying attacks, and opposing forces battling it out throughout the story, then that means you're probably witnessing a show in this sub-genre. These shows generally fit in the action category.

Tragedy= As the name implies, the tragedy sub-genre revolves around tragic events or phenomenon where the characters are deeply involved and affected. Tragedy comes in diverse varieties such as disasters, accidents, misfortunes, and deaths. These shows are often very dramatic and can pull the heartstrings of audiences.

Vampire= As vampires have become so popular throughout the world, it’s no shock that they’ve also infested the world of anime. There are lots of titles now featuring vampires and they’re not just exclusive to the horror category. They’ve also manifested themselves into other categories such as comedy, romance, and drama.

Yuri= Yuri is essentially the more mature and explicit version of shojou-ai. The female characters are typically older and the series examines their more mature relationships.

Yaoi= Yaoi is the much more sexually explicit counterpart of shounen-ai. This sub-genre covers male-to-male relationships (typically older boys) in a more mature light. There is more emphasis on serious relationships and intimacy.

 Well, there you go… a not so short overview of the genre and sub-genres of anime, manga, and light novels. Hopefully, this will help newcomers to this wonderful of books and tv. It is now time to reveal the first series in the socallyawkdude’s manga review….. Tales of Wedding Rings by Maybe.  The volume 1 review should be up soon, as i’m finishing up the art work for the post.

Till then this is your friendly neighborhood sociallyawkdude signing off.

[chrisemrysfics]

And here I find in my draft a ramble about maturity, in relation to fiction.

It’s not made to be like a proper speech, just rambles read over to make sure there’s a progression of logic and it makes sense. I added more so you can see where it gets a bit less ramble and a bit more clean, but it’s all just, feels sharing.

I post this because I don’t feel I expressed what I do here in the way I did here, and I feel so very strongly about this.

If you want to take one sentence out of it that I really loved once I wrote it, it’s this one: an act can be immature, but a person is never immature, they are always as mature as their own growth and journey has lead them to be.

With bonus of: maturity is not intelligence, to say you aren’t mature enough for something is, in fact, intelligent of you; but to react in immature actions is still nothing about being non intelligent, your maturity is an aspect of yourself in itself, the same way intelligence is another, and age is actually another, because while age can limit the level of maturity you can achieve (due to the brain still growing and also the limit of experiences you can have the younger you are), different people at the same age can be more mature or less mature than each other.

And extra bonus: fiction is, I dare say, almost always meant for people who can handle it, with the expectation that those that cannot handle it will avoid it (close tab, close book, change channel, blacklist, etc). Because that is the mature reaction to have, to avoid what you cannot handle (and minimize your exposure to it). Which is why mature people will not listen to immature reactions, and “defend” the source of the immature reaction, because they can recognize it isn’t a mature reaction, and hope to make the person grow in their maturity to realize the mature reaction is to avoid, not censor.

A quick addition based on my mostly fandom based meta just before: fiction is also the only place, only thing in existence, where you can experience and learn from an infinite number of experience, all the while being safe. It is the only place you can safely discover your limits, and grow your maturity through the fictions you can handle, as you discover different ways a topic, experience, etc can be experienced. Fiction is a mirror of reality, but reality can harm us, and fiction is unable to, and once we are mature enough to react maturely to what we can or cannot handle, we can make use of fiction to learn and know ourself and navigate the real world better. And it’s the other reason mature people will protect the freedom of fiction.

was talking about maturity and i remembered when i was young teen, maybe 13, or maybe even 12, and i asked to use internet, and a neighboor-friend (big brother like) helped me make a forum account and mom was close by too, and with my neighboor we made a joke in my profile (i can recall it still, we wrote “and god created pikachu!”).

things had been going well (i think he showed me some things too), mom wasn’t hovering but was around and sometimes looked to, it was a fun, happy moment.

and then someone messaged me and insulted me, angry that i mis-used god’s name.

needless to say, i got really confused and hurt and i cried, it’s very vague in my memory then but yeah i know i was hugged, and my neighboor replied for me and told the person off and made sure to nail in the fact i was a teen.

once i calmed down, mom asked me what i wanted to do, and i told her, i dont want to try for now, and i didnt, because i had enough maturity to realize i wasn’t feeling mature yet to handle these kind of people and the wild cards of internet.

in the same manner, i was maybe mid teen, maybe even 15/16 or closing in to 17, its lessened now but back then i was really, really squirmy with g/ore and b/lood and ho/rror. however, i cant recall if i saw a bit or saw another and had handled it, or if it was curiosity, but i recall asking to watch Alien (cant recall which one). Its possible i watched one that i handled and wanted to watch the first one, or again, just curiosity. anyway mom just asks to make sure, and i cant for sure if i was alone watching it, but what i recall is being really shaky after, like, growing really anxious in the night and being too afraid to sleep.

that night i slept in mom’s room, and agreed i should not watch ho/rror movie for now (and i believe i didnt try for years).

both of these to say: this illustrates that some things cannot be handled if your mind hasn’t reached enough maturity and also that it IS mature to back away from something you cant handle. mature also is different than adult, this is why we can see teens handle mature topics, but the fact is, minds mature with time and no matter if you feel, or genuinely are, a mature teen, your mind is still growing. there are mature topics, stories, discussions, etc; that you just cannot properly handle.

it is natural to feel distress when your mind cannot properly handle something, but it is immature to blame the content, because the mature thing is to back away. it is also a sign of a lack of maturity of your mind, if you cannot process the complexity of a topic and why people speak of it in different manners.

a lack of maturity is not being stupid. but intelligence and maturity are two different things. if you are intelligent, you should be able to understand you can still lack maturity.

chances are, if you think you are mature enough, and you arent, you’ll encounter topics you cant handle and lash out at the topic rather than pause and ask yourself if you were mature enough for it.

this is also why you’ll see mature people supposedly “not listen”. its not that we dont listen and defend “bad” things, its that we are mature enough to be able to dissect it, and we can see you aren’t mature enough. we arent “defending bad things”, we are trying to make you understand it’s about maturity.

when we say you can love a villain, for example, it means you are mature enough to appreciate a villain and still know they’re a villain and their acts are wrong

when we defend s/exual content and “problematic” content, its because we know the complexity of humanity and we are mature enough to differentiate fiction and reality, and the layers of them, and how they interact together, and how different people have different experiences reading fiction.

The whole reason fiction is often labelled with age as warning is that, in general, someone below that age is not mature enough to properly handle it. Some people of that age can, in fact, handle it, but not all. In the same manner, not every experience of something complex can be “good” or “bad”, because it is possible to have the people involve be mature enough to make it a good version of the experience.

However, the whole reason fiction is so, so important is that it is the only thing that exist where we are 100% safe and yet able to see, learn, experience, all sorts of things. If you need to understand a topic, especially to discover your own limits, you’re safe to do so through fictions, but you aren’t safe to do in real life. And because fan fictions are made by people who are everywhere, who are all kind of people, you will find a much larger range of experiences written.

As a final note: I don’t know how often you, we, hear it, but it is totally okay to feel repulsed by something, and it is totally okay to realize you aren’t mature enough to handle a topic or a specific way something is expressed, or just to admit to yourself that you aren’t as mature as you thought you were. Maturity is something that grows, and everyone has their own pace. Again, maturity is not intelligence, you aren’t stupid if you aren’t mature, and you will notice I’m not saying “immature”. I think, honestly, an act can be immature, but a person is never immature. You are mature, but your maturity evolves, so you are always mature at the level that you have achieve at any moment. Some people grow their maturity at faster rate, some need slower ones.

But I think I love this idea: an act can be immature, but a person is never immature, you will always be just as mature as your own evolution lead you to be. You are mature to a certain level, and you can be more mature with certain topics. And I feel that the first lesson in maturity for any given topic is when you learn not to react with immature actions for the each topic. You already are so, so mature when you are capable of not reacting with immature actions. You never have to “accept” something to be mature. Maturity is when you are able to recognize what you can handle, and what you cannot, and to be responsible for your own comfort.

To demand others to not create content that you can’t handle is an immature act. To avoid the content is a mature act, because you recognize others might need that content, and that the content is not meant to you directly. In fact, I dare say that in general, people who share content, create fiction, only ever aim it for those that can handle it, and expect people who can’t to avoid it.

Yes sometimes you can stumble on a content you can’t handle, but the mature reaction is to say “okay I can’t handle that” and just leave. Close the tab, change channel, stop the movie, close the book, ask for the subject to change if you’re speaking with someone or with people, etc.

[gigilberry-wips]

11/11/11 Tag

I was tagged by @kaptune in this post, thank you!

I am now exactly half way through the second draft of my WIP Thrown For A Loop, so I feel more comfortable doing one of these.

1. Did you have alternate ideas for your wip that eventually didn’t make it in the story of were exchanged with a better scene? If yes, tell us one or a few that you left out (could be a character too or a name)

A: Oh, I’ve had quite a few of those. Like, I had to rewrite the intro more than a couple times because the first time I started off in the wrong place, then because my main character was info-dumping and making no sense, and then because I mis-characterized my characters and had to write more about them and develop them properly before I could go back and write it again.

I wrote a few scenes that felt off to me because some of them relied on harmful and misinformed troupes, while others were not true to my characters.

I remember at least 2 instances where I actually tried to write scenes that had been inspired by scenes I’d read in books many years ago. For example, there was a scene that I’d based loosely off of something I’d read in a Terry Pratchett book where my main character confided in another because the character she was talking to was so calming and easy to pour her heart out to.

But that didn’t seem to fit somehow, so I flipped the entire thing around. Instead of being calm and happy while confiding in the character, my girl was instead very upset. She was angry! She was scared and confused and frustrated and no one was telling her anything! It was unfair and she made sure to say so! Now that felt more in line with what she’d been going through, especially when a person she didn’t know told her that they’d been looking after her when she’d been so sure that she was all on her own the entire time and then this person showed up late and said all these pretentious things, like how they’ve been trying to help her and how much they cared about her. Of course she blew up. It helped her feel much better after she did, but that’s how it went down and I’m pretty happy with it.

2. Do you have a specific audience in mind for your wip?

A: Teenagers ranging anywhere from 12-18 can read this! :D There’s no cursing or mature themes in it, no violence whatsoever, and it fits pretty well into the general audience category. It’s an urban fantasy adventure, first and foremost.

But I would recommend it specifically for the teenage age-group, because the main character herself is a teenager and deals with the growing pains of being at that age, which hopefully many of them can relate to.

3. Is it important to you that your wip has a moral or a message?

A: I suppose so. I think so. What I’d initially wanted to write for this story was something fun. I’d also wanted to write a story where my main character is wholeheartedly and unapologetically loved, by her friends, by her family, and by all the people who claim they love her.

As I’ve written this story, I find that if there are any messages that I want to reach the readers no matter what, it would be: 1) it’s alright to reach out for help if you need help. You don’t have to climb to some threshold of being “deserving” of help or “proving” yourself worthy. It’s not a bad thing to rely on the people who love you to help you. It doesn’t mean you’re weak. and 2) there’s always more than one kind of strength, some more obscure than others. Look out for them.

4. What kind of relationships do you like writing the most (romantic, platonic, familial, etc.)?

A: I love writing friendships. I’m all about the friendships, I love them so much. I especially love writing friendships between young girls and teenage girls because I never saw that anywhere growing up. I especially want to write about friendships that involve girls who look like me, who are asian like me. And they don’t have to be young girls! I want to write about the friendships between old women, middle aged women, young women, all the women! I want to write lots of this so that there’s more of it in the world!

I love writing healthy family dynamics! I love writing scenes of platonic intimacy. It’s so, so rare for me to read about asian families and poc families where there are healthy family dynamics. I am hungry to write about families that are supportive, loving, happy. I wish I could write faster just so I can write more of them!

I want to write lots of stories where women who look like me fall in love with men who cherish them and are proud of them. Whether the relationships they have are goofy or awkward or competitive or soft, I want to write healthy romances that are based on friendship, respect, and trust that is earned. I want more sweet, wholehearted romances, and I want all of them to have woc.

5. What kind of research have you done for your wip?

1) I remember one fateful day when I researched the fruit festivals that occur in France, particularly the orange festivals in the south of France

2) I’ve learnt a LOT about flowers, like the kinds that grow commonly in northern regions or which can be found during autumn or in the late part of the year, the kinds that can go in tea or can be baked into foodstuff, the kinds that hold special meanings, lots of fun things

3) I asked some questions regarding sensitivity and miscellaneous cultural details to a fellow asian writer to make sure I didn’t do anything particularly upsetting

4) general writing advice like how to make a compelling story narrative, writing dynamic characters, about story beats, how to keep a plot moving, etc.

5) my story takes place in the early 2000′s. I myself am a millenial/gen z hybrid. And yet, I have very hazy memories of this time. I’ve looked through so many, so many, of those “you know you’re a millenial if”, “young millenial aesthetic”, “remember back in 2005 when we had-”, “being born in the 1990s like”, etc. And I’m still not sure if any of it’s helped =_=“

6. If your wip became very successful would you want to make a movie adaptation? why or why not?

A: Heck no. A graphic novel maybe, but a tv or movie adaptation? - absolutely not. I feel like it would have a lot of inaccuracies in how the characters are portrayed, I feel like they’d focus on all the wrong things and none of the right ones, and most importantly I’d be scared that they wouldn’t get the feeling right, because the feeling is very, very important to me.

7. Did you have alternate title ideas for your wip?

A: I don’t believe I did, no. I thought about what to title, a pun came to mind, and that’s what I went with.

8. What has been the hardest part about writing your wip so far?

A: Convincing myself I’m going to finish it. I’ve kept thinking about when I’d finally start posting and if I’d be able to put up with a steady posting schedule and get stressed out thinking about it, and then I’d have to shake myself out of it and keep going. Also worrying that my characters aren’t lovable enough - because I love my characters and I want others to love them too, or that my story isn’t compelling or interesting enough, or most of all that the feeling that I had in mind for the story just isn’t coming through. Like I want this story to be overall light but also an adventure, but what if I’m making it too serious? Or angsty? Or plodding and boring?

9. Do you prefer writing action or description?

A: Description, definitely. ^^” When I write action, I feel like an grade schooler putting one word in front of the other and all of them feel tedious and redundant, like I’m describing basic, boring things. With description I can at least info dump before I refine it later and make it pretty. With action I have to be sparse and smart, I need to know what to cut, when to cut it, and how to do it right. And that makes for a whole different kind of brain exercise.

10. What do you want your readers to come away with after reading your story?

A: A good time. No really, I want them to have happy feelings when they’re done reading my story. I want them to have happy feelings while reading my story, because there’s a lot of fluff and happy things going on in there.

But I also want to write a character who is both timid and strong. I want to write a character who freaks out and cries a lot and is still trying her best and still being very brave, and I want the readers who do stick around to value her because of that. The choices she makes and the thoughts she has are going to be frustrating to read at times, but whether they like her or not I hope they can understand that her strengths all lie in her exceeding her own expectations and her mentally set limits and I hope they can appreciate her for that.

11. What’s your favorite part of your wip? what make you excited to write?

A: I want to write the fluff so bad. I love writing a character who receives so much love from others, who is seen as a love interest and is genuinely treasured. I love writing the friendship scenes, the bonding scenes, all the platonic intimacy. I love that I get to write healthy family relationships in an Asian family, I love that I get to write about friends who love and support each other. And most of all, I love that I can write an anxious and imperfect character who is surrounded by people who accept her as she is, and that I can write her as the heroine of her story - the one who drives the story, the one who makes things happen, the one who has power and agency and a voice in her own narrative. That part makes me happy beyond words.

                                                   --------------------------

And that’s all for me! Here are my questions:

1. If your OC were to meet you in real life, what do you think they’d think of you? Would they like you?

2. Which of your OCs has the most appealing aesthetic vs. which of your OCs has the aesthetic that matches closest to yours?

3. How would you say your story has changed as you’ve written it?

4. Which story troupe(s) do you want to take and flip on its head?

5. Have you ever based an OC off of a song? If so, which song was it?

6. Have you ever read a fanfiction that filled your heart with soulful feelings and quite possibly moved you to tears?

7. Which OC(s) that you’ve ever created would you say is/are the farthest from you in terms of personality? What about intelligence?

8. Which relationship dynamics do you find yourself writing the most often?

9. Pick one: Angst or Fluff

10. Have you ever written a self-insert OC (no shame here - in fact, I love those! A lot!), be it in fanfiction or original fiction? If so, how old were you when you first wrote them?

11. Have you ever written a story based off of a dream? Did it stay true to the dream as you wrote it or had it changed drastically by the end of it?

Tagging all the people on my “like being tagged in tag games” list:

@roll-a-bi20 , @cjjameswriting , @welcometomycerebralcortex , @inexorableblob , @lordkingsmith , @theunubun , @harrybpoetry , @smudged-glasses-writing , @ill-write-when-im-dead , @cosmic-storytelling , @furryarbiterangel , @ecritblr , @owlsofstarlight , @drarrybabes , @lura-wilcox , @purrfectwriting , @this-was-my-2nd-choice-for-a-url , @poetbelieverhere

(if you wished to be tagged if future tag games, then please interact with this post)

[sidekickhq]

where do you think scarlett leithold could fit? this rp looks amazing !

thank you so much ! i think she could fit in a lot of different families : steve rogers ( adopted ), loki & sigyn, hope van dyne, black tom cassidy & eilish sullivan, caitlin snow & ronnie raymond, stephanie brown & cassandra cain ( adopted ), dan espinoza & chloe decker & lucifer morningstar, eddie brock, kara zor-el, hal jordan & carol ferris, harley quinn & pamela isley, jason todd ( adopted ), hela & thanos, koriand’r & raven roth ( adopted ), natasha romanoff ( adopted ), stephen strange & clea, bruce wayne, oliver queen & dinah lance, warren worthington iii, michael jon carter & ted kord ( adopted ) !

and if you’re interested, some familial wanted connections she could fit :

VIDAR BJÖRK-THORSON & TOVA VIDARSDOTTIR, our CHARLIE HUNNAM & EMMA MACKEY fcs are looking for a CHILD / SIBLING connection who looks like BILLIE EILISH, MARGOT ROBBIE, HENRIK HOLM, ELLIOT FLETCHER, KATELYN NACON, JOE KEERY, JENNY BOYD, NAT WOLFF / UTP who is 17-19 or 23 you DON’T have to contact prior to applying at ofichvr / tofuisms. ( but you can if you want ! ) ( tova would… die for each of them, any time any place, but also… you know how ur sibs are your best friends but also your worst enemies? .. yeah. when they’re good, they’re reALLY good - but when they’re bad, mom or dad probably has to step in eventually to referee the arguments. the dynamic would prob be different depending on whether tova is older or younger ; if she’s the eldest, then her natural protectiveness extends to them, and if they’re older… well, same, but she’s probably a little bit TOO textbook ‘annoying younger sister’ a lot of the time. it is very possible that vidar isn’t close to this child due to him not being around for AWHILE - he was in the army from age 18 to early 30s but would come home whenever he was able to - which was NEVER enough! so they could have a relationship where vidar tries and ur chara just doesn’t want that, ur chara looks up to him but they don’t rly know how to interact , etc! it is also an option for the chara to be a TWIN but thats completely up to u! please check out vidar’s INTRO for background info and more fc options! )

THEORA TREVOR, our KATE SIEGEL fc,  is looking for a FOSTER CHILD connection who looks like CAMERON BOYCE, LISA TEIGE, AMANDLA STENBERG, KARAN BARR, DAVID CASTRO, RJ CYLER, ABIGAIL COWEN, PARIS BERELC, YARA SHAHIDI, IMAN MESKINI // PLAYER’S CHOICE who is 16/17. you DO have to contact prior to applying at WVTCHFUL. ( credit to rachel for giving me part of this idea !! theora works in the e.r. and one day a kid ended up there for some reason.when it came time for them to be discharged, they had nowhere to go and theora got temporary custody while they waited for the situation to be worked out. flash forward a few days, theora is attached and filling out the paperwork to become a foster parent.  )

EMMA FROST, our KATIE CASSIDY fc is looking for her LIL DEATH MACHINES / STEPFORD CUCKOOS X3 - CELESTE, MINDEE, PHOEBE who look like GIORGIA WHIGHAM, KIERNAN SHIPKA, JENNY BOYD, ANNASOPHIA ROBB, ANY MATCHING BLONDE FC who are 16-26 YEARS OLD. you DON’T have to contact prior to applying. ( we all kno the stepford cuckoos. they and their sisters - two named dead, thousands of unnamed - are emma’s clones, and though they appear to be mature, are actually, chronologically, like, five or smth, cos they were grown rapidly in tubes. it wasn’t known from minute one that they were emma’s, but the minute this became public knowledge, she accepted it and started to think of them as her daughters. diamond form, telepathic hive mind, coordinated outfits ; how much more could u want? )

GRÁINNE CASSIDY, our SOPHIE RUNDLE fc is looking for her SIBLINGS / TWO OLDER, TWO YOUNGER who look like FINN COLE, OLIVIA COOKE, CILLIAN MURPHY, EMILY BROWNING, DOUGLAS BOOTH / ANY FACE CLAIM who are anything from 20-40 YEARS OLD. you DON’T have to contact prior to applying. ( do u want to play a member of a crime fam, but ur not sure which to pick? do u want to play an irish char, but dont know what to do? if the answer is yes to the first and no to the second, but ur ok with settling, then boy o boy do i have the crime fam for you ! mutant on their fathers side and mobster on their mothers, the cassidy-sullivan’s are honestly… p hot, if i say so myself. their matriarch was left the only member of the fam after they were wiped out in gotham about ten years ago, and now they’re all getting older, the kids are restarting that specific fam business. i love the idea of them all having like… conflicting ideals, conflicting ideas for their fam, conflicting LIVES. gráinne fancies herself the head of the family right now, and at least for the minute is continuing their loyalty to the falcone’s. her sibs could want to challenge her… could be happy working alongside her… could mayb not even wanna be apart of the family - it’s honestly up to YOU ! )

JEANNIE DRAKE KENT, our STEFANIE SCOTT fc is looking for a HALF SIBLING ( via warren )  connection who looks like ( EMMA DUMONT, ASAMI ZDRENKA, RYAN POTTER ANY ½ WHITE FC ))  who is ( 19-23 YEARS OLD. ) you DON’T have to contact prior to applying. ( half siblings that are known publically to be worthington – nothing is set in stone with this connection but feel free to message at gods lost roomba#5813 to hear more about it!  )

PERSEUS XAVIER-LEHNSHERR, our NICK ROBINSON fc is looking for an UNKNOWN BIOLOGICAL FAMILY connection who looks like any white/half white (brunette) kid !! / grace phipps, jake t austin, madison davenport, noah centineo, piper curda, richard harmon, thomas hayes, willa holland, xavier serrano who is  20+ YEARS OLD. you DO have to contact prior to applying at JEEZPERSEUS. ( he was born to two degenerates in camden, new jersey. neither good parents, but he never experienced it because he was very little when he & his seven siblings were placed into the custody of the state for neglect. they were a high powered family, two mutant parents, but there’s a possibility one of the kids was human. they can be siblings or half-siblings or even cousins. or even his twin sister!! they’d be 20 or older if they’re a (half-)sibling, bc percy is youngest. go wild. ) ( thalia, more )

ROSARIO HILL, our MELISSA BARRERA fc, is looking for a YOUNGER HALF SIBLINGS / ADOPTED SIBLINGS ( 1 to 2 ) connection who looks like DIEGO TINOCO, TRINITY ANNE, EDEN ESTRADA, SOFIA REYES, CIERRA RAMRIEZ, ISSA LISH, DANNA PAOLA, ARIELA BARER, MANPREET MABRA, LAURA HARRIER, TRISTIN MAYS, LULU ANTARISKA, KEKE PALMER, TAZZY PHE, TINA TAMASHIRO, TOMMY MARTINEZ, MARLON LANGELAND / AT LEAST HALF MEXICAN IF BIO, ANY FACE IF ADOPTED who is UNDER 25 you DON’T have to contact prior to applying.

TRIXIE ESPINOZA DECKER MORNINGSTAR, our CHRISTIAN SERRATOS fc is looking for her ( TWO ) YOUNGER HALF-SIBLINGS VIA CHLOE & LUCIFER who look like ANY HALF WHITE, HALF MEXICAN FC who are anything from 16-22 YEARS OLD. you DON’T have to contact prior to applying. ( i’m tweaking the timeline that i’m mainly working from - the lucifer tv show - just a bit to allow for a broader age range of siblings, but what i waNT here is !! lil decker-morningstar kids !! i’m not even fussy on whether they’re like, bio or not, i just think… trix would be an awesome big sister, and it would REALLY solidify the fam connection here for there to be a lil fam running abt the place. )

WILLIAM WADE WILSON, our BRANDON FLYNN fc is looking for a FULL SIBLING connection who looks like CAITLIN STASEY, MERRITT PATTERSON, NINA DOBREV, DAISY RIDLEY, COLIN FORD, ALEX LAWTHER, TYLER YOUNG, THOMAS HAYES, UTP+  who is 16-17, 22+ you DON’T have to contact prior to applying at willicmwilson. ( Okay, I’m not super duper picky with this connection- I really just want to explore their relationship/the family dynamic. Also, it’s completely optional but I think it’d be cool to continue the whole 3 W tradition when naming them! Feel free to contact me if you do have any questions!)

[fyrapartnersearch]

Oops, this is longer than I intended...

The tree branches snarled and gnashed as a sharp breeze cut through the night. The wind gutted cashes of leaves in varying states of decay, tossing them up into dust devils. It was as if the wind triumphed in its ability to trespass where it wasn’t wanted. A stretch of bare, clawing branches outlined a road like a gaping rib cage. Between them, a beast stalked the road. It dragged a lifeless body with short, violent tugs, leaving a stark trail of blood gleaming in the moonlight like a single, corrugated artery. It walked like a man, moved like a predator. Silver streaks of moonlight flashed through the leaves, revealing that the beast was dressed like a vagrant, covered in tattered brown, grey and black rags. A ragged hood hid wisps of white hair that obscured a set of menacing red eyes. The moonlight cast a long, ominous shadow that stretched off into the distance, making the creature’s form appear bigger than it was. The beast moved with purpose, walking to a massive, ornate, pillared structure barred by massive gates. With a touch, the gates swung open, and the doorway allowed him entrance. The sadistic grin that peeked out from the beast’s hood was complemented by a gruel glint in his eyes. The traveller bared a set of perfect, pointed, ivory teeth, hinting at insanity. – Chapter 1; In which Death awaits, and a plot is hatched. Did the above introduction catch your interest? I sincerely hope so. I also hope that, from there, your eyes continue on, trifling through this post, absorbing the information I offer and nurturing a growing interest that will lead you to my door. Writing is not just a pass-time. It’s an adventure, an extravagant and deeply fulfilling world created for our very own enjoyment - this is the reason I am now here in search of partners. Optimistically thinking, I have not scared too many of you away with my mutterings and lavish vocabulary - I apologise, I’m a Law Student, we speak as such to confuse you! Moving matters on, online I go by Nefarious, or Nefi (or, if you are feeling particularly confident, any variation of such). As previously noted, I am a student, and a part-time worker, thus while I definitely have time to spare, it may not be as much as some people on these forums. If you’re looking for multiple posts a day, I’m likely not your girl.  18+, I’m both comfortable and confident with mature themes (ranging from smut to touchy subjects of abuse and psychological difficulties). Post-wise, they’re mostly going to be on the longer side, but you can always expect a minimum of 3 decently sized paragraphs - length generally tends to sit on two main factors; time, and inspiration. If I’m short for time, the post is going to be shorter, as I’d much prefer to send off a smaller but interesting post than leave my partner waiting and bored. On the other hand, some days inspiration is hard to find, or perhaps we reach a slow point in the RP and there’s not much to say - thereby, once again, post lengths will differ. As previously commented upon, I have a fairly busy schedule, and thus posting times vary. A general rule to live by when in contact with me would be - the longer the posts I’m able to produce, the less I’ll be able to send them. I will always attempt to reply at least once a day - and will more likely be able to produce up to 2 a day - but I will always let you know if I am going to be unavailable. Sometimes in a roleplay, however, moments for rapid-fire posts - such as in scenes of long dialogue between the two primary characters, or more intimate/fast-paced scenes - will occur, and in those situations, you can expect shorter but quicker responses to support the situation. Have I rambled enough? If I’ve missed any important details, which I no doubt have, feel free to merely ask. I like to think I’m a happy and open person, so don’t worry about overstepping that ‘invisible’ boundary (if it ever did come to that, I would let you know kindly, no grudges held). Now, the information you’ve all been waiting for! What I’m interested in: Unfortunately, I’m going to be that annoying person that says ‘I’m open to pretty much anything’. It is true, however. There are certain things that do not interest me at all, as few as they are, while there also things that I crave more than others. When you contact me, I’m going to be much more friendly and interested if you come with an idea in mind, either a fully/partly formed plotline, a specific pairing or a general fandom, and are equally happy to discuss the aspects with me. While I’m more than happy to develop a plot-line almost single handedly, we need a starting point - something you should have considered before contacting me, preferably. Absolutely not (These are subjects that offer me no interest, and thus are non-negotiable).

-> Slice of Life; this subject, on its own, is boring. Why would I want to write about day-to-day, normal lives that I experience on my own? The answer - I don’t. When slice of life occurs in the middle of a roleplay, i.e. the home life of the detective’s we’re playing, or the family problems that occur as a result of our characters actions, so on and so forth, that’s fine. It’s an addition. But if you ask for a roommate, college life style roleplay (common example), I’m going to turn you down non-too-harshly.

-> Smut-Centric; I’m not here to write porn, it’s as simple as that. Smut with the development of the story, of the relationships is more than acceptable, even preferable as it adds a new dynamic. Smut on its own, however, known as Porn-Without-Plot, is not something I will be participating in.

-> Jane/John-Doe; A character becomes a character when you are introduced to their experiences, their good side and their bad. If you’re writing a character that has done no wrong, the interaction are going to become very bland, very quickly. A troubled character is an interesting character, in my mind. (Also note that overpowered characters are not part of this section - as long as a discussion is made, and preparations are introduced to keep things interesting, OP characters are not out of the question, but make sure to ask if this is what you’re interested in).

Original Plotlines (If there is something you’re interested in that’s not listed here, ask. I’m not going to list every possible scenario). Each “ * ” present amount to the level of interest displayed towards each suggestion.

-> Fantasy ** -> Sci-Fi ** -> Medieval -> Modern -> Dystopia / Utopia * -> Apocalyptic -> Steam / Cyberpunk ** -> Supernatural *** -> Mythological *** -> M/M **** -> M/F *** -> F/F **** -> Horror ** -> Blackmail / Torture / Psychological Horror *** -> Mental Illness / Abuse *** -> Darkerside / Side effects of Powers *****

Fandom Plotlines (Again, if you do not see your fandom here, let me know. Even if I’m not familiar, often I will make the effort so we can explore the idea). I am more interested in OC/OC pairings here, but am both open to OC/Canon and Canon/Canon in certain situations - ask. Movies/TV; -> MCU *** -> Avengers ** -> X-Men *** -> DCU *** -> Legion **** -> American Horror Story ** -> Harry Potter ***** -> Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them **** -> IT *** -> Sherlock ** -> Doctor Who *** -> Supernatural ** -> Heroes *** -> Lost Girl *** -> Criminal Minds ***

Books; -> Dark Hunter *** -> Vampire Academy ** -> Red Queen Series ***

Games; -> Persona 5 ***** -> Dragon Age ***** -> Borderlands ** -> Bioshock ** -> Assassins Creed Odyssey ** -> Vampyr **

Disclaimer: As you can see, I am very much craving Harry Potter, Dragon Age or Persona 5 based Roleplays. If any of these interest you, you will be given my full interest!

Since I’ve likely taken up a good chunk of your time, I’m going to end it here and leave you my contact details. I prefer to roleplay over Email, Google Docs or Discord (in that order). A combination of them is also great (considering Discord is the easiest form of contact while Email/Google Docs have no word limits).

Email: NefariousWriter@gmail.com

Discord: Nefarious#1494

When you message me, please introduce yourself! A single “hi” is not going to fill me with much confidence, nor is “I want to RP with you”. 

[shouganaitrans]

Kiki Delivers The Window to the Woods

Chapter 5 of Volume 2, Kiki and New Magic, by Kadono Eiko.

“Here, a souvenir.”

Kiki held out the package she brought back from her trip home to Tombo.

“A souvenir? Wow.” As soon as Tombo took it, he pulled open the ribbon and looked in excitedly. “Oh hey, is this one of those bells? The ones up in the trees from when you were a kid? It’s so shiny and silver…”

“It was up there for ages so it got pretty dirty, but I polished it up nice.”

Tombo took off the wrapping and rang the bell. “So what were these for again, anyways?”

“My mom tied them to the tops of some of the tallest trees around my village. Y’know how I decided to be a witch when I was ten, right? I started learning to fly right away, but I could see so much from way up in the air, I’d get distracted looking and lose focus. That’s what the bells were for. If my foot hit one, it’d ring and remind me to fly back up high again. I mean, sometimes I wouldn’t hit any bells, I’d just run into someone’s roof and scare them, or get all scraped up and go home in tears… And then sometimes I’d mess around and ring them on purpose just for fun.” Kiki looked up at Tombo a little shyly, eyes glittering. “Say, Tombo, you seem kinda different. Did you get taller?”

“Hm, dunno… I don’t think so. You’re the one who seems different, come to think of it. Like a mature lady,” Tombo said, smiling gently.

“Huh? R-really?” Kiki raised a hand to her chest as her heart skipped a beat, then kicked at the ground to try and hide it.

Tombo rang the bell once more. “Putting bells up, what a good idea.”

“It’s an old tradition, apparently.”

“I’d love to try it. Y’know, tie bells on the trees all over town and make it a performance when I fly, that sort of thing. Ring, ring, ding, dong, chime chime chiiiime, like that. Fun, right? But of course the problem is I can’t fly, that’s always the problem. Lucky you…” Tombo sighed, pouting jealously at Kiki.

“I feel like I should be apologizing for flying…” Kiki said with a shrug.

 “Did Tombo like the bell?” Jiji asked as soon as Kiki got home.

“Yup, he sure did. Still, it was kinda…” Kiki said, flopping down in a chair. “I really don’t get boys…” she muttered to herself. “I wish he’d said a bit more about how I was a mature lady… Whatever.”

“Who’s a mature lady now?” Jiji said, looking up.

“No one,” Kiki said, waving a hand.

“Kiki, are you there?” Osono said, opening the door and peeking in. “There’s a letter for you, here.”

“I wonder if it’s Kokiri…” Jiji said.

Kiki took the letter and tore it open.

“I’ve heard rumors that you fly like the wind. I’m a bit far away, but there’s something I’d like you to deliver for me. My cabin is on Yamamata Mountain, and I’ll have a kite flying so that you can find it. Thank you, Mizuna.”

“Hmm, Yamamata Mountain… Where’s that?” Kiki mumbled under her breath as she studied the map of Koriko City pinned to the wall.

Jiji climbed up on her shoulder to look. “The mountains should be on the opposite side from the sea, right?”

“Right, yeah… Oh! Here we go, right on the edge in the corner… C’mon, Jiji, let’s go!”

“…we don’t have to go right now, do we?”

“Of course we do! This is more fun than just sitting around, and Kiki here can’t let everyone who’s relying on her down, you know~”

“Yeah, but… What about lunch?”

“When we get back.”

“Well, aren’t you important all of a sudden. So cruel, trying to starve me…”

“I’ve got three candies here in my pocket, and I’ll give you two. Alright?” Kiki said, giving her pocket a pat before picking up her broom and Jiji.

“You’re really going all out, what’s up?”

“Nothing’s up! Isn’t this normal?”

“I wonder…” Jiji said, looking up at Kiki.

Kiki opened the glass door to the bakery and looked in. The words “Osono, I’m heading out!” had barely left her mouth before she was up in the air.

“What, already?” Osono called after her in amazement.

“I’m with her, it wouldn’t kill you to slow down a little. You hadn’t even finished talking,” Jiji said with a hmph.

 Spring was in full bloom in Koriko, and every once in a while lovely scents would drift past.

“Ah, it smells like apple blossoms! Oh, and this one’s apricot!” Kiki stretched her arms out to one side, then the other as she flew, as through trying to catch the smells. A lively tune flowed from the radio hanging on her broom’s handle. The town, bathed in the brilliant sunlight, gleamed like it was brand new.

Eventually, the houses grew fewer, the green of fields and forests grew deeper, and the mountains appeared from out of the mist. Kiki flew and flew over them all.

“Oh hey, look! There’s a big butterfly there, see?” Jiji said, pointing over Kiki’s shoulder.

“A butterfly? Ah, right, that must be the kite that Mizuna mentioned!”

Finally, over mountains hidden in their soft green, the yellow kite was clearly visible, fluttering in the wind. Kiki followed the kite’s string with her eyes, landing where the string disappeared into the trees.

There was a house there, with a thick grass roof that looked like a little girl’s bowlcut, white smoke gently drifting from the chimney in the center. Next to the door was a sign reading “Tree Songs for Sale.” Kiki couldn’t help but smile; it was just like Kokiri’s “Cold Medicine for Sale” sign.

“I wonder what tree songs are supposed to be, though…”

The door was open. When Kiki looked up, a young man was standing there in white coveralls and a pale green apron.

“Hello, this is Kiki’s Delivery Service. I received the letter you sent,” Kiki said, hurriedly bowing.

“Thanks for coming. I’m Mizuna,” the man said, looking down just a little. The inside of the cabin was one big room, with the bed and the kitchen all visible from the door. There was a kettle whistling on the stovetop. Across from the door, a window looked out on the lawn, letting light pour into the room.

“Wow, it’s so pretty…!” Kiki exclaimed, looking in. Mizuna smiled and opened the window as wide as it would go. “So, what would you like me to deliver for you?” she asked, looking around. There was wood of all shapes and sizes covering the floor, and the soft smell of trees hung in the air. “Could it be one of those tree songs from the sign out front?”

“Yes, that’s right,” Mizuna said a little shyly, picking up a piece of wood about the size of his arm from next to him and holding it out to Kiki. “See the mouth here?”

Sure enough, there was a round hole in one of the knots.

“The tree sings from here?” Kiki asked in surprise, peering into the hole.

“Yes, I give them mouths so that they can sing. I know that trees have to be cut down, of course, but still… I get branches and cut scraps from the woodcutters, so at least I can let them sing like before.”

“Oh, so trees really sing?” Kiki said, leaning forward.

“Oh, you didn’t know? Haven’t you heard them?” Mizuna asked, looking just as surprised as Kiki. “I mean… You’re a witch, aren’t you? I thought witches could understand all kinds of songs and languages, like scarecrows’ conversations and stones’ choruses… I only just learned to understand trees, after living here up in the mountains and listening day after day…”

“Sorry, but I can’t do anything like that, really.” Kiki looked down, suddenly feeling apologetic. “So… When do trees sing?”

“Always. Songs for rain, songs for humid weather, songs for growth, songs for motion. You see those three beech trees lined up out there, all blowing to the left?” Mizuna said, pointing out the window. “They love to harmonize, and they’re singing very cheerfully right now. The weather’s so nice, after all.”

Kiki listened as hard as she could. It did look like they were singing, the way their branches were all swaying together. But all she could hear was the soft sound of the wind and the distant chirping of birds. “I wish I could hear them too…” Kiki murmured absently.

“In that case…” Mizuna said, lifting up the piece of wood he was holding. “This is a chestnut tree,” he said, placing his mouth to the hole he’d called the tree’s mouth and gently blowing.

Tuttutturi, tuuuri, rirriiiiii–

The noise sounded as though it was getting caught somewhere.

“This one is a pagoda tree,” Mizuna said, picking up another piece of wood and blowing into it.

Hehehe heh hehhe–

This time, it sounded like laughter.

“See?” Mizuna said, eyes gleaming with pride.

So these were tree songs? Without meaning to, Kiki tilted her head to the side.

“Is it strange?” Mizuna said nervously as he saw.

“Not at all! It’s just that I’d never heard it before, so… Trees have interesting voices, huh? I kinda assumed they’d have high voices, since they’re so tall and all,” Kiki said, hurrying to laugh it off.

“Oh, sorry, I got all caught up and forgot, but…” Mizuna began, picking up the most odd piece of wood in the cabin from off of a shelf. “I’d like you to deliver this. I really ought to go myself, but I don’t think she’d he happy to see me…” It was a mix of dark and light and greyish wood all combined together into a mysterious shape. “I gathered together all sorts of trees and gave them mouths, so they’d sing a different sort of song together… I call it The Window to the Woods.”

“What a nice name… And the delivery address is…?”

“Do you know Sulck Street?”

Kiki jolted a little.

Everyone knew Sulck Street as somewhere no one would want to be caught walking. Kiki had never been there, but seeing it from the air, it was always sunk gloomily in the shadows of the tall buildings along the shoreline.

“Is that a problem?”

“No, no, of course I’ll deliver it,” Kiki said, accepting the flute from Mizuna.

“It’s for the girl in #3 Seashell Apartments, 39 Sulck Street. Her name is Nashina.”

“Got it.” Kiki turned towards the door. “C’mon, let’s go,” she called to Jiji, letting him jump up onto her shoulder.

“Oh, one last thing…” Mizuna said. “I’d like you to have one of the tree voices, whichever one you want. As a thank-you.”

“Really? Then, how about that one that looks like a little island?”

“That’s red pine.”

“Do you like this one too?” Kiki asked Jiji as she accepted the red pine from Mizuna.

“Mewmeooow,” Jiji replied.

“You can talk to cats?” Mizuna said, eyes wide. “Witches really are amazing… The language of cats must be a lot more complicated than the language of trees.”

“It’s nothing, really…” Kiki said, feeling a little pleased with herself even as she waved it off. “Now then, I’ll be going.” She went outside, sat astride her broom, and took off.

“Oh, and please tell this to Nashina!” Mizuna called, running out after her. “It’s wonderfully lively here, so won’t you come visit? Tell her that!” It sounded as though he put all of his strength behind the words.

Kiki waved to show she understood and flew off, skimming between the mountain slopes.

 Sulck Street was just as dark, cramped, and chaotic as Kiki had heard. Dirty water was pooled in the narrow streets, filled with scraps of trash paper. The walls were covered with graffiti. But even so, Seashell Apartments looked the worst by a long shot, with mold growing from damp spots here and there. And to make things worse, it looked like #3 was even half underground. Kiki was shaking a little as she knocked on the door.

“It’s open!” a female voice responded, accompanied by the blare of radio music.

“Excuse me, are you Ms. Nashina?” Kiki said as she opened the door, before stopping dead in her tracks. The only window in the room was a very narrow little one right up against the ceiling, and even though it was the middle of the day, it was as dark inside as though it was evening. It couldn’t be more different from Mizuna’s brightly lit cabin.

A woman who looked a fair bit older than Kiki slipped out in time with the music.

“I have a delivery for you from Mr. Mizuna,” Kiki said, holding the piece of wood out to her.

“Oh? What is it this time?” Nashina said, switching off the radio and turning to Kiki.

“He called it the trees’ songs.”

“Not this again…” Nashina pouted. “He can call them presents, but it’s nothing but pressed wildflowers and maple leaf bookmarks, you know. I mean, what do you think? There are other things a girl’d want, right? He’s a good guy and all, but he’s always kinda, y’know, a little off the mark,” she said, accepting the delivery reluctantly. “There’s always a little something missing.”

“Actually, there was something Mr. Mizuna wanted me to tell you, too. He said ‘It’s wonderfully lively here, so won’t you come visit?’”

“Again, really? I do love him, you know. And I do think sometimes that it’d be nice to be together. I’m always telling him to come here, too. The thing is, I just can’t get used to living like a tree the way he does. Winds and leaves and trees, day in, day out. People might badmouth this place, and you definitely couldn’t ever call it wonderful, but it always feels like something exciting’s about to happen any day now. Sure, it hasn’t happened yet, but… There are new hits on the radio, and if you dress up all nice people turn to look, you know? Trees don’t do anything like that. That’s why me and Mizuna have been apart all this time, both of us asking the other to come see us.” Mizuna shook her head as she laughed, raising the piece of wood to her face. “Hm, this actually smells kinda nice, doesn’t it.”

“Right?” Kiki said, taking a step forwards. “It’s called The Window to the Woods. See all those holes? If you blow into them, it sings.”

“Sings?”

“I’d never heard of trees singing until today either. Apparently Mr. Mizuna can hear them, and sometimes they even harmonize. This one’s made of all different branches and cut scraps.” For some reason, Kiki found herself wanting to lend Mizuna a hand. But she couldn’t help but be a little worried that Nashina wouldn’t like that sort of fuuu fuuu– song. “Don’t you think it’s unusual? A tree’s song?” she said, taking another step forward.

“So this is ‘The Window to the Woods?’” Nashina said, looking closely at the piece of wood in her hands. “A little ironic, since the window here’s so small. You blow into these holes, right?”

“Yeah, you should give it a try! I’d like to hear too…”

Nashina blew softly into one of the holes.

Tototoruruuu– Totoruru–

“Huh, interesting!” Nashina laughed, blowing into the next hole.

Lilulila lilulila lilulila–

The two sounds overlapped, echoing like voices. Nashina’s eyes widened, brightening, as she blew into another hole.

Ranlariri– Ranlariri–

The sounds kept combining and echoing, filling the room.

It felt as though a big, bright window had opened inside the dark, half-underground room, letting a gentle breeze in.

So these were the trees’ songs.

Was this how trees sang?

It was so different from the ones Kiki heard on the mountain…

The mysterious air had surrounded her completely.

Nashina, too, was absorbed in playing, eyes growing misty.

Finally she stopped, standing absolutely still. “It felt like someone pressing their cheek to mine,” she murmured. “…I’d completely forgotten what that felt like.” When Nashina looked up, some of the sharp light was gone from her eyes, replaced by a faint green, like the reflection of a forest. “Maybe I’ll go see him, just this once.”

“Do you know the way?” Kiki asked hurriedly. “Do you need me to tell you?”

“Yamamata Mountain, right? I know,” Nashina said with a smile. “I can’t fly like you, so I’ll pack a backpack and hike, slow and steady.”

 When Kiki got home, she tried blowing into the red pine she’d gotten from Mizuna.

Tete tetetette

Kiki couldn’t help but laugh.

It was such a funny sound.

She tilted her head to the side thoughtfully.

Anyone would laugh if they heard me play this, she thought.

Why is it only The Window to the Woods that sounded so beautiful… There must be something special inside of that wood.

Something sent from one special person to another special person, some kind of special feeling… Maybe that was it.

[carry-on-my-wayward-butt]

hey vicky how do i tell if i’m being groomed or not.. i’m a minor and the adult in question is only a few years older than me and nothing in particular has happened but what are some red flags I should look for just in case do you think? sorry i have really bad paranoia

a couple years means a lot when you’re a teenager. the difference in life experience between even just a 15 year old and a 17 year old is staggering, especially when you’re an adult looking backwards. the difference between a 17 and 20 year old is much the same amount of staggering. idk how old you are, but here’s some things to look out for and be wary of in general:

telling you that you’re ‘so mature for your age’, ‘an old soul’, ‘different from the other kids in your class/from people [their] age’ or anything that is meant to make you feel/seem older than you actually are. even if you are more polite or conservative than other teenagers and don't follow the hot memes and shit, you’re still a child. they know that, but they don’t want you to know that.

talking to you about sexual situations or sexual conversations. an unrelated adult should not be talking to a child about sex. a 20 year old should not be talking to a 17 year old about sexual exploits, their past sexual experiences, or their sexual experience preferences. 

isolating you from your friends or family. telling you that you’re different is step one in isolation. making you think that they’re the only one who understands you/accepts you is step two. they get you to not spend time with your friends and family because they want to monopolize your time and energy. they make you feel bad for not paying constant attention to them. they tell you not to talk to other boys or girls and slowly minimize your ‘acceptable’ social circle until it only contains you and them.

making it seem like they’re the only one in the world who understands you is an extremely common tactic, but less noticable is telling you that you’re the only one who understands them. that isn’t true, and it is never your responsibility to make an adult feel accepted/belonging. the tactic is to make you feel like you’re obligated to be around them because if you don’t do it, you’re solely responsible for their suffering. this isn’t true. it’s not your job.

making you keep secrets from the authority/protection figures in your life. this can manifest in ways such as making it ‘your idea’ to skip school, and then violating your boundaries wherever you end up with them. you ‘cant tell’ because ‘you decided’ to skip school and they will make it seem like if you tell someone what they did, you’re ‘just as in trouble’ as they are. this isn’t true, but they don’t want you to know that.

giving you inappropriate gifts. this can range anywhere from the gift itself being inappropriate(like underwear) to the volume of gifts being inappropriate(like buying you food all the time even when you continually tell them not to) to the extravagance of the gift being inappropriate, such as huge purchases you could never hope to repay. if they insist on making these inappropriate purchases on you under the guise of generosity or ‘spoiling you’, you can bet the farm on them acting like you ‘owe them’ in the future. and the extent of what they think you ‘owe’ will be just as, if not more, inappropriate.

if you encounter these behaviors and feel like you’re seeing red flags, distance yourself immediately.

there’s a chance it’ll stop, there’s a chance it’ll persist.

if they persist, the first thing you should do is tell someone you trust THAT ISN’T PART OF THE SITUATION. your sibling, your parent, your teacher, a friend who doesn’t hang out with the adult, you get the idea. tell them that an adult is making you uncomfortable, and very explicitly tell them that you don’t like it and want it to stop.

after that, if there’s someone you trust that IS part of the situation, give them a heads up that so-and-so is making you uncomfortable specifically because they are an adult and you are a child. tell them you want to ghost the person. because 

only after you’ve alerted someone ahead of time should you even consider confronting the person. tell them that they are an adult, and you are a child. tell them that you don’t want them to contact you anymore. that you feel like they’re overstepping their boundaries as an adult. tell them its not your job to make them feel special, and to find someone their own age.

(this is not a comprehensive guide on how to do things, this is a suggestion. seek actual assistance from a trusted person if you need help. contact the police if the older creep is in a position of power over other children.)

[aridara]

Verifying a list of “hateful feminist quotes”. (From S to Z + groups and anonymous individuals)

Final part of my rebuttal at all those lists that are supposed to show how feminism is evil, but in practice shows how anti-feminists rely on an extremely inaccurate (and, in some parts, deliberately lying) list.

"Colored people are like human weeds and are to be exterminated."

Margaret Sanger

False.

"The most merciful thing a family can do to one of its infant members is to kill it."

Margaret Sanger, founder of planned parenthood

True, but extremely edited; not hateful. I’ve bolded the parts that anti-feminists didn't bother to include in the list:

"Thus we see that the second and third children have a very good chance to live through the first year. Children arriving later have less and less chance, until the twelfth has hardly any chance at all to live twelve months."

"This does not complete the case, however, for those who care to go farther into the subject will find that many of those who live for a year die before they reach the age of five."

"Many, perhaps, will think it idle to go farther in demonstrating the immorality of large families, but since there is still an abundance of proof at hand, it may be offered for the sake of those who find difficulty in adjusting old-fashioned ideas to the facts. The most merciful thing that the large family does to one of its infant members is to kill it. The same factors which create the terrible infant mortality rate, and which swell the death rate of children between the ages of one and five, operate even more extensively to lower the health rate of the surviving members."

(Yeah, anti-feminists cut out a LOT.)

Also: she was talking about using birth control to deal with unwanted pregnancies. Not about using infanticide to kill already-born children.

“I do want to be able to explain to a 9-year-old boy in terms he will understand why I think it’s OK for girls to wear shirts that revel in their superiority over boys.”

– Treena Shapiro

Unverifiable.

“In general, I support a girl’s right to offend any member of the opposite sex who happens to cross her path. In fact, I’d much rather see a little girl wearing a shirt that mocks boys than one that turns them on.”

– Treena Shapiro

Also unverifiable. In fact, I think it's not even hateful at all: it points out a double standard where there's a lot of men's shirts that mock women, while a lot of women's shirt are designed to look "seductive" to men - and the reverse doesn't happen.

(Small diversion: while I tried to look for this quote's source, I found this ebook. The 2-3 pages I read sound like a book version of these "List of hateful feminist quotes" lists.)

[insert literally any quote from the SCUM Manifesto]

Valerie Solanas

I won't give a different rating to each individual quote, given how these kinds of lists tend to have many, many, so fucking many quotes from Solanas. I'll only give a general rating.

Usually, in these "hateful feminist quotes" lists, all of the Solanas quotes are true and hateful, and come from the SCUM (Society for Cutting Up Men) manifesto she wrote in 1967. However, I’m doubtful that they count as “quote by a famous feminist”, considering that:

SCUM was never founded - it stopped at its manifesto;

Feminists’ opinion of SCUM at the time was divided between “What is wrong with you, Valerie?” and “This is satire in really bad taste”;

Feminists’ opinion of SCUM today is divided between “What is wrong with you, Valerie?” and “Who the hell is Valerie Solanas?”;

Absolutely nobody, feminist or not, condoned Solanas’ attack on Andy Warhol; and

Solanas's attack on Warhol wasn't motivated by her feminist beliefs.

“We are, as a sex, infinitely superior to men.”

– Elizabeth Cady Stanton

True, possibly hateful. But I want to point out something: this quote is from 1890. This is what anti-feminists believe modern feminism to be? Really? Haven’t they heard of how feminism isn’t a monolith, how there have been various discussions, schisms and revolutions during feminism's history, how there’s a lot of positions and criticism - oh, right, I forgot, feminism is evil and has always been the same since the dawn of time, duh. (# sarcasm)

“The more famous and powerful I get the more power I have to hurt men.”

- Sharon Stone; Actress

Almost 100% false. It also seems that Sharon either wasn’t a feminist during those years, or chose to not display her feminist beliefs back then. In either case, Sharon Stone cannot be considered a significantly important feminist by any stretch of the word.

"If the classroom situation is very heteropatriarchal--a large beginning class of 50 to 60 students, say, with few feminist students--I am likely to define my task as largely one of recruitment...of persuading students that women are oppressed,"

Professor Joyce Trebilcot of Washington University, as quoted in Who Stole Feminism: How Women Have Betrayed Women.

Hm, this is an interesting one.

It’s unverifiable. Yes, AGAIN. No, it doesn’t count that it’s (supposedly) in Christina Sommers’ book “Who Stole Feminism” - she still needs to source the quote. As far as I can tell, Sommers mught've just made that quote up and falsely attributed it to Trebilcot.

Not only that, but the quote  looks like it has been truncated. Considering the level of this list, I’m quite suspicious every time I see some ellypsis.

By the way: Sommers? Really?

“Men are animals. Don’t you think so?”

– Ireen von Wachenfeldt, radical feminist leader in Sweden

True and hateful, apparently (given that she quoted SOOOLAAANAAASS). Here's the link to the Wikipedia page on her - you'll have to run it on Google Translate or similar, though.

On another note: of all the quotes in anti-feminists' lists of "hateful feminist quotes" that are actually hateful quotes, it's noticeable how many of those come from Solanas alone. It’s almost as if anti-feminists focus excessively on her, and use her as the base that forms their opinion of all feminists.

I wondered if the woman married to a pig had read this ... Did that mean that all over the globe, in all innocence, women were marrying beasts? ... Why are so many men really beasts? "

Jeanette Winterson "Oranges are Not the Only Fruit" 1993, pp.71 -76

Fictional. The novel is about a lesbian girl growing up in a Pentecostal community. At one point, various religious people from that same community take the main character and her girlfriend, and subject them to exorcism.

In response to a question concerning China’s policy of compulsory abortion after the first child, Molly Yard responded, “I consider the Chinese government’s policy among the most intelligent in the world”

(Gary Bauer, “Abetting Coercion in China,” The Washington Times, Oct. 10, 1989).

Unverifiable. There is no trace of the quote in the "Washington Times", but I think that I found the original source: the American Life League, an evidently anti-abortion group. You'll forgive me if I treat that source with all the respect it deserves.

...

We aren't done yet, though! Here's some more quotes from organizations or unknown individuals!

"We are taught, encouraged, moulded by and lulled into accepting a range of false notions about the family. As a source of some of our most profound experiences, it continues to be such an integral part of our emotional lives that it appears beyond criticism. Yet hiding from the truth of family life leaves women and children vulnerable."

Canadian Panel on Violence Against Women.

Unverifiable and not hateful. It sounds like they’re talking about how a lot of assumptions and myths about “proper” families have lead women to believe that abuse is a “normal” part of a relationship.

MALE: represents a variant of or deviation from the category of female. The first males were mutants...the male sex represents a degeneration and deformity of the female.

MAN: an obsolete life form... an ordinary creature who needs to be watched...a contradictory baby-man...

TESTOSTERONE POISONING: ... ‘Until now it has been though that the level of testosterone in men is normal simply because they have it. But if you consider how abnormal their behavior is, then you are led to the hypothesis that almost all men are suffering from "testosterone poisoning."

From 'A Feminist Dictionary; ed. Kramarae & Triechler, Pandora Press, 1985

Unverifiable. The book DOES exist. What does NOT exist, is scans of it. Nor are there extensive citations of it - the only ones around are the same ones anti-feminists uses, same ellipsis and all. And, frankly, whoever first wrote this list has done such a sloppy job fact-checking this list that, by this point, I don’t trust them if they said that the sky is blue.

"Women have their faults- men have only two: everything they say and everything they do."

Popular Feminist Graffiti

Goddammit. Yet ANOTHER joke from a collection of jokes. No indication whatsoever this was from a feminist.

"Men, as a group, tend to be abusive, either verbally, sexually or emotionally. There are always the exceptions, but they are few and far between (I am married to one of them). There are different levels of violence and abuse and individual men buy into this system by varying degrees. But the male power structure always remains intact."

Message on FEMISA, responding to a request for arguments that men are unnecessary for a child to grow into mature adulthood.

Oh, now you’re just grasping at straws - misattributed. This quote is not from the FEMISA staff; it's from an e-mail sent to FEMISA. Come on - I thought this was a list of hateful quotes from *relevant* feminists - not from any random anon down the street!

"Clearly you are not yet a free-thinking feminist but rather one of those women who bounce off the male-dominated, male-controlled social structures. Who cares how men feel or what they do or whether they suffer? They have had over 2000 years to dominate and made a complete hash of it. Now it is our turn. My only comment to men is, if you don't like it, bad luck - and if you get in my way I'll run you down."

Letter to the editor, signed: "Liberated Women", Boronia Herald-Sun, Melbourne, Australia - 9 February 1996

Unverifiable. Once again, the only places where this quote pops up are lists of “hateful feminist quotes”. And judging by the quality of this list, that isn’t nearly enough.

“The simple fact is that every woman must be willing to be identified as a lesbian to be fully feminist”

(National NOW Times, January, 1988).

Unverifiable (supposedly written in 1988). There’s a lot of citations for this particular quote (many from copies of this list), but no image of the original.

“We identify the agents of our oppression as men…….ALL MEN HAVE OPPRESSED WOMEN…..We do not need to change ourselves, but to change men……The most slanderous evasion of all is that women can oppress men.”

–The Redstockings Manifesto

True, but out of context. Once again, anti-feminists have deliberately cut out various parts of the original manifesto. Here's the full quote (the bolded parts are the ones anti-feminists cut out):

"III    We identify the agents of our oppression as men.  Male supremacy is the oldest, most basic form of domination.  All other forms of exploitation and oppression (racism, capitalism, imperialism, etc.) are extensions of male supremacy: men dominate women, a few men dominate the rest.  All power structures throughout history have been male-dominated and male-oriented.  Men have controlled all political, economic and cultural institutions and backed up this control with physical force.  They have used their power to keep women in an inferior position.  All men receive economic, sexual, and psychological benefits from male supremacy. All men have oppressed women."

"IV    Attempts have been made to shift the burden of responsibility from men to institutions or to women themselves.  We condemn these arguments as evasions.  Institutions alone do not oppress; they are merely tools of the oppressor.  To blame institutions implies that men and women are equally victimized, obscures the fact that men benefit from the subordination of women, and gives men the excuse that they are forced to be oppressors.  On the contrary, any man is free to renounce his superior position, provided that he is willing to be treated like a woman by other men."

"We also reject the idea that women consent to or are to blame for their own oppression. Women's submission is not the result of brain-washing, stupidity or mental illness but of continual, daily pressure from men.  We do not need to change ourselves, but to change men."

"The most slanderous evasion of all is that women can oppress men.  The basis for this illusion is the isolation of individual relationships from their political context and the tendency of men to see any legitimate challenge to their privileges as persecution."

So, to sum it up:

Systemic sexism is caused by men.

All men benefit from this oppressive system.

Various people have tried to shift the blame for systemic sexism on "the institutions", which wrongly implies that both men and women are equally affected by sexism, and that men have no choice but to act as oppressors.

Various people have also tried to shift the blame on women, falsely claiming that sexism exists because women deliberately "consent" to be subjected to sexism.

Various people fail to see sexism as a systemic problem; instead, they wrongly paint it as a collection of individual acts that have no relation with each other.

When an oppressive system is challenged, the privileged group does not see that as "the dismantling of an unjust system"; instead, it sees that as "unjust persecution, and an attempt to upturn equality".

This is pretty accurate, and isn't hateful.

“We regard our personal experience, and our FEELINGS about that experience, as the basis for an analysis of our common situation. We cannot rely on existing ideologies as they are all the products of male supremicist culture.”

– The Redstockings Manifesto

True, but not hateful. Oh, no, feminists dare to talk about all their personal experiences about sexism and how they feel about it; and they also dare to reject existing sexist explanations of why sexist gender roles are just "natural". How dare they.

Also, why is "feelings" in all-caps like that? Is this the usual jab that women are emotional and therefore "inferior" to the logical men? Because that jab is shit.

FMS stands for: Full of Mostly (Bull) shit; For More Sadism; Felons, Murdereres, Ssumballs; Frequent Molesters Society

From a February 1995 handout at the "Stone Angels" satanic ritual abuse conference in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. The conference was supported financially by the Ontario Government

Unverifiable. And frankly too ridiculous to be true.

"All men are good for is fucking, and running over with a truck".

Statement made by A University of Maine Feminist Administrator, quoted by Richard Dinsmore, who brought a successful civil suit against the University in the amount of a $600,000.1995 settlement Richard had protested the quote; was dismissed thereafter on the grounds of harassment; and responded by bringing suit against the University..

Unverifiable. It IS true that Dinsmore sued the university due to, in his own words, “man-hating feminists”; HOWEVER, there’s no mention of the quote itself.

"Masculine sexuality involves the oppression of women, competition among men, and fear of homosexuality." "Rape is the end logic of masculine sexuality." "Male sexuality is negative."

Introductory texts for Women's Studies Courses at UCLA including: "More Power than We Want: Masculine Sexuality and Violence" by

Bruce Kokopeli and George Lakey [Cited in TNV]

Unverifiable.

And that’s it. The VAST MAJORITY of quotes are either not-hateful once we actually see the context (and paste back all the parts that anti-feminists censored behind ellypsis); or, their origin cannot be verified (and therefore we can’t be sure whether they actually came from feminists). Some quotes came from works of fiction and were spoken by fictional characters; they aren’t statements that the author personally made and supported. Of the remaining quotes that are both verified and hateful, a GIANT chunk of them is comprised entirely of Valerie Solanas - which isn’t held in much regard by modern feminists. In fact, I’m pretty sure many don’t even know about her.

[freedom-of-fanfic]

you know... i'm starting to think that anti-ism is a reaction against growing up. the age range of most antis, the way they tell older shippers to 'go get a job or something', and the way they're absolutely disgusted by anyone over 18... it all fits and it's really sad.

i’ve talked about the relationship of anti-shipping to age a lot, coming to various conclusions, and I don’t think any one ‘reason’ is right. 

that said …

 the idea that you will someday be ‘too old’ for the stuff you find fun now is a long-standing cultural message that I’m sure many anti-shippers - many adolescents of all stripes - have absorbed. that message caused adolescent me to think I would outgrow fandom, and I don’t think that message has particularly changed:

maturity means outgrowing things you like now (’you’re too old for that’). even if you still secretly like them, growing up means pretending you don’t anymore.

maturity means having strongly regulated emotions and feelings. you’re allowed to have tantrums when you’re little, but when you’re older that’s not allowed anymore. and people make fun of you if you’re too excited or enthusiastic about something. it’s okay to talk forever about one thing when you’re a kid, but the older you are the weirder it is.

maturity means being a productive member of society. everything you do should either make money (work), lead to making money (forming contacts/building skills), or make somebody else money (buying shit). interaction with family/friends is the only acceptable behavior that’s not related directly to money, and that’s regulated to the back burner of your life. (and if you’re not making money or preparing to make money, you have to be raising kids.)

maturity means being responsible. you have to be the bigger person even if you’re really hurt and upset. if your younger sibling does something shitty to you, you have to be understanding and nice anyway. if something bad happens, you must have messed up and you have to fix it. if you fail, nobody will protect you.

And while I made this list of what ‘maturity’ is off the cuff, there’s two things that can immediately be noted about it:

fandom activities definitely do not fit. being part of fandom - especially transformative fandom - means being enthusiastic about something to the point of talking about it constantly and creating stuff out of love for it - or getting so angry about it you make hate blogs! fandoms often revolve around stuff that adults supposedly ‘outgrow’, like cartoons, and fandom creations fall into a legal gray area that means most people won’t ever make a living wage off their fandom activities, even if they sell lots of merch. it’s not productive by capitalist standards.

it’s ableist as fuck. more specifically: it’s super neurotypical. and do you know what most members of fandom probably aren’t? (if you said ‘neurotypical’, you win!) fandom is exactly the kind of place that certain types of neurodivergent people will thrive well past adolescence, and probably one of the few places they can continue to let themselves show their nd tendencies without endangering their livelihood or getting shat on for it. (Mostly. Maybe.)

so: fandom is (probably) heavily aneurotypical/neurodivergent; many of us are autistic. many of us are adhd. many of us are many other flavors of nd. this means our maturation/adulthood doesn’t tend to look like ‘normal’ adulthood: we continue to have special interests, hyperfixations, etc. we don’t regulate our emotional reactions the same way as non-nd adults do. we might not outgrow interests, or at least not endeavor to hide that we didn’t outgrow them. our social interactions will not look like the social interactions of neurotypical adults.

 but many fandom members - especially young fandom members - don’t take that into account when they consider adults in fandom or what their own adulthood will look like. they’re expected to grow up and become ‘normal’ - and they expect fandom adults to have done that long before the age they are now.

other facets of shittiness directed towards adults/adulthood in online transformative fandom probably include

 misogyny/transmisogyny (transformative fandom is primarily afab & has many trans women participants, and we are socialized to believe that women outgrow fun and become totally dedicated to caregiving and/or careers: fandom participation is a violation of that social obligation/expectation)

 rebellion/ageism (every new generation ever thinks adults don’t get it and wants to be different from them)

Stranger Danger/helicopter parenting/overprotectiveness that has increased over the past few decades (for better or worse), and 

the simple fact that unsupervised online interactions means adolescent minors usually have all the freedom of adulthood but need take none of the responsibility.

tl;dr: fandom is a social activity and people don’t usually outgrow being social. it’s also a haven for a lot of nd people both young and old, and lets us have a fun space outside ‘normal’ social expectations of women/mature human beings, but we usually grow up expecting that we won’t be like that because of toxic societal messaging.

[cyanwings]

i'm sorry you aren't feeling good, my bean! 33, 20, 18, 2, and 1

@jimmy-valmer

It’s okay! I mean, it sucks big time cause I feel like a truck ran over me from the body aches but I’ve handled worse. I’m a WARRIOR!!!

ON TO THE MIGHTY MEMESS~!!!

ANIME QUESTIONS MEME - Accepting!

1. best anime you’ve watched

So for the record, I’m excluding “Avatar: The Last Airbender” & (2003) “Teen Titans” shows cause people consider them animes when they’re only anime influenced so they’re out. But, this is SO hard! It’s like picking my children, it just feels impossible to do! Though, if I HAD to pick just one, it would have to be…… ( 2003) Kino’s Journey!

Why? Well, let’s ride right into the world of “Kino’s Journey” or in it’s original title “Kino no Tabi.”

“ The world is not beautiful, there fore it is.”

Let’s start with the story, which tells of the journey of a traveler named Kino and their motorcycle, Hermes, while they visit a long range of countries as they meet different people along the way. The actual fact is: there isn’t one solid story but 12 short stories that link together not by episode order but by events. And yet the fact that each one of this stories manages to give a deeper meaning than the whole plots from many animes amazes me till no end! Kino finds herself in the midst of these societies - some of which have downright appalling practices. Each episode approaches a theme of society, like censoring, violence, communication problems, right or wrong, the ability some people have to bite the hand that just feds them, and so on. And every time I watch each one, I found myself enjoying this series more than I should have.  

As Kino travels throughout the world and becomes acquainted with the people who inhabit it, it becomes clear that each of her encounters is essentially a separate journey into the labyrinth that is the human psyche to explore one of the many elements that make it up. The issues touched upon in the series ranges from the tendencies of humans to blindly believe in prophecies to the consequences of not having a self-conscious.

There is a wide range of characters as expected from an anime that tells about travels all over the world. While some of them are forgettable, some of them also stay in your mind. Although it is clear that neither Kino nor Hermes is the main focus of the series, together they play an essential role in its series. 

In terms of being a likeable character, Kino has become my favorite anime character ever! They inspire me in so many ways and I’m always glued to the screen every time their role comes into play. Although they appear apathetic at first, they’re a caring and understanding person. Kino travels through different countries to experience their customs and understand the citizens, but they never stay longer than three days, as they’re afraid of settling down, and would decrease of being a traveler. They’re also intelligent, skillful, extremely wise for someone so young and still as unpredictable as a teen could be. Though not fond of killing, they will do so if necessary without feeling remorse. Especially, towards those who attack them or the innocent. Kino has truly become one of the most unique characters I’ve ever seen.

Hermes, Kino’s talking motorcycle, acts as the perfect companion to his owner. Not only are his conversations with Kino very enjoyable to listen to due to the his humour, the series also allows for further exploration on his character. I won’t lie that I found it odd that we were suppose to just roll with the fact that he speaks but as the show grows over time, you do learn to accept it and that’s not the most unusual thing you’ll be seeing in the series either. He’s also the closest thing that Kino has to a friend and it just makes their relationship heartwarming a lot of the time. In addition, considering the theme of the series is the nature of humanity, his presence as a non-human makes their discussions even more interesting. You have no idea if he’s truly real or just in Kino’s head. But, whatever the case may be, he’s a fun character to journey with!

The dub is honestly one of the best that I’ve heard and I’m usually REALLY picky when it comes to English audio in anime. It was done at A.D.V films, which are the people responsible for other great dubs like “Princess Tutu”, and they do an AMAZING job!

Kelli Collins voicing Kino was the highlight of the entire dub! Her acting glues you into her role to her character and you’re just amazed of how well she fits the Kino. Especially, giving the young traveler a sense of maturity to such a young teen. It’s a shame she hasn’t been active since then and didn’t return for the reboot of the series. ( Even though it was a disaster so maybe it was for the best. ) Kino’s voice actress succeeds as the perfect person to voice such a outstanding character and how she brings her to life. I honestly can’t even picture anyone else to play the role but her. Hermes on the other hand is a hit or miss with viewers. Cynthia Martinez voicing Hermes comes off with a cartoonish boyish voice who I could definitely see annoying it’s viewers.  But to me? It honestly works! The way Hermes asks certain questions and their responses makes sense that they act childish or ask very out-looking questions of the situations at hand. Not not say he’s immature. He’s actually the voice of reason but, Cynthia shows great promise with the role. And you’ll see why once you go into this series head on.

Overall this series holds a special place in my heart. It doesn’t have that nasty fan service or anything too over the top like a Shōnen show but, it helped me get a better understanding on how humanity works and even thinks at times. In life, we don’t know which path to take but that’s the journey of it. You just get up and travel to find out what’s up ahead for you. To see the world for what it is with all it’s good and bad parts. Kino searches for life’s answers, life’s questions, and the interpretations connected to them. Destination is a state of mind; Drift along for the ride~!

2. worst anime you’ve watched

Oh gawd, this is just torture! Just when I think I can finally be rid of trash like this I have to go back and look in the bin again lmao

Let’s see…. I think I would have to say…. “ Master of Martial Hearts.” Why didn’t I say the famous “School Days?” I could but I wanted to do a different hate this time since this one made me beyond pissed off! “School Days” at least had the main lead get what’s coming to him cause we all know the douche bad deserved what was coming to him so I was fine with the insane out come. But this? HELL NO!

I found this series out by amazing reviewer, JesuOtaku, back when Youtube was starting to get popular and I always agreed with her reviews. I’m SO glad I saw her review first before stumbling upon this nasty series. First, we got under aged girls, and women in general, getting their clothes completely ripped apart as they fight one another cause why not? Screw plot! And it’s just an endless scenes of just wtf??!! I didn’t watch the series but I saw enough of it through her long review. AND…what pissed me off the most is the ending. Dear gawd! THE ENDING! This series only has 5 episodes but once you check out the last one? It deserves two middle fingers straight at it cause F*CK THIS SERIES!! No seriously, don’t even check it cause it’s just horrible. Just awful!! It’s just the worst anime to me and always will be!

    18. favorite villain

This is gonna sound strange but I instantly KNEW who my favorite villain was gonna be and I couldn’t be more ready! When there’s a great hero there’s also a great villain. Out of the horrible characters did I choose? Johan from (2004) “Monster.”

“ There’s nothing special about being born. Not a thing. Most of the universe is just death, nothing more. In this universe of ours, the birth of a new life on some corner of our planet is nothing but a tiny, insignificant flash. Death is a normal thing. So why live? ”

–Johan

The story focuses on Kenzo Tenma, a young Japanese doctor working at the Eisler Memorial Hospital during in Germany the 80′s. He is a very skilled highly brain surgeon. However, Tenma grows increasingly dissatisfied with the political bias of the hospital for treating it’s patients, and seizes his chance to change things after a strange massacre brings the twins Johan and Anna Liebert into his hospital.

Johan has a gunshot wound to the head and Anna keeps muttering about killing. Tenma decides to operate on Johan instead of a politician who arrived afterwards. Johan is saved, but the politician dies. After this Tenma loses his social standing, lost his promotion, basically everything, and not soon after that the twins escape. The top heads of the hospital are found dead the same night the twins escape. Tenma is then promoted to chef of surgeon.

After that the story advances to nine years later. A known criminal is found on the street, hit by a car. He comes under the care of Dr. Tenma, who observes him muttering about a “Monster.” Tenma extends his kindness to that criminal, and thus the criminal begins to open up to his doctor.

Following his trail to the construction site of a half finished building near the hospital, Tenma finds the man. The man, who has developed a sort of doctor-patient friendship with Dr. Tenma, warns him against coming closer, and pleads with him to run away. Tenma refuses, however, and the identity of the man holding the gun pointed at the criminal in the abandoned parking garage is revealed to be the boy whose life Tenma had saved nine years ago - Johan Liebert. Johan shoots the criminal, tells Tenma that he could never kill the man who had saved his life, and then walks off into the night while Tenma is still too shocked to stop him. I’m not gonna spoil anymore to the plot cause it’ll ruin the experience but WOW! What a series!

On the surface, Johan is a well-mannered, charismatic and compassionate young man. He possesses a favorable of traits and can easily overwhelm individuals with his seemingly flawless nature, as others describes him as being not of this world. This makes it easy for him to make new allies and manipulate them into doing various deeds for him. With such skill in creating this facade of perfection and pureness, Johan can hide his true motives with ease.

Johan delivers destruction and suffering to those who happen to fall prey to his schemes. Johan exhibits psychopathic tendencies. For example, most of his murders, both in childhood and adulthood, have been premeditated and calculated.

Johan often shows a complete disregard for life by pointing to his forehead, inviting Dr. Tenma to shoot him.

He also has a tendency to make his victims experience the worst possible loss and suffering rather than actually killing them himself;

Everyone NEEDS to check out “ Monster ” cause it does not disappoint! Even just check out just for it’s villain and the amazing english dub! Trust me, it’ll be one incredible wild ride!

  20. favorite costume/character design:

My girl, Mina Ashido from “My Hero Academia” / “Boku no Hero Academia”!

“The old you’s not going anywhere with that emo look on your face! If you overcome that gloomy self of yours… let me know. Or else I’ll start spreading rumors about high school debut man.”

—

Mina Ashido

    33. most underrated anime in your opinion

Since I already talked about “ Kino’s Journey” & “ Monster”, I’ll decide another great underrated anime people need to see and that’s “ Princess Tutu.”

“ May those who follow their fate be granted happiness; may those who defy it be granted glory.“ - Miss Edel

In a fairy tale come to life, the clumsy, out-going, and gentle Ahiru (“Duck” in the English Dub) seems like an unlikely protagonist. In reality, Ahiru is just as magical as the talking cats and crocodiles that inhabit her town—for Ahiru really is a duck! Transformed by the mysterious Drosselmeyer into a human girl, Ahiru soon learns the reason for her existence. Using her magical egg-shaped pendant, Ahiru can transform into Princess Tutu—a beautiful and talented ballet dancer whose dances relieve people of the turmoil in their hearts. With her newfound ability, Ahiru accepts the challenge of collecting the lost shards of her prince’s heart, for long ago he had shattered it in order to seal an evil raven away for all eternity.

Princess Tutu is a tale of heroes and their struggle against fate. Their beliefs, their feelings, and ultimately their actions will determine whether this fairy tale can reach its "happily ever after.”

The title may seem off putting to a lot since it sounds like some girly anime but don’t judge a book by it’s cover~! This series has so much going for it and it’s honestly just outstanding! It may be predictable at the beginning ( Had the same trouble with the first season of “Avatar: The Last Airbender” ) but, it becomes something you just never expected; A complex and tragedy story.

You honestly feel for every single one of these characters once their parts are given into play. And the fact that they use real classical music that compliments the dance scenes so well done. You feel the dramatic effect once our main leads come into the spotlight. The intense just rises from the music and for the dubbing too. I said back in my “Kino’s Journey” part of the ask that this was dubbed by A.D.V. Films and it’s one of my favorites ever! It’s not just one or two actors that shine, every single person portrays their characters with flying colors. I was just amazed of how incredibly well done they did!

I could go on and on about the characters but they’re all such a surprise that I rather not spoil it. This is genuinely a heartwarming show to experience for yourself. Classical music, beautifully choreographed dances, and memorable characters make for an experience worth having in all of Princess Tutu’s world. A modern fairy tale for the ages.

[owlespresso]

Infertile Ground | #2

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Also on ao3

Dedicated to @yaoi-jeezuz, who loves Sugawara. And @sapphyrelily, whose work inspired me to write this story.

It’s been two days since your first guest arrived. Over that period of time, you’ve decided that Sugawara Koushi is easy to get along with. Perhaps the council decided to start you off with their best-behaved child. You suppose it’s wrong of you to talk about him like he’s much younger than you are, because you really have no idea about his age range. 

Appearances mean little. Even the oldest of gods can change their appearance at will. You have no idea how old Sugawara is, and somehow, that just makes you warier.

He wakes up before you do. On the first day, you insisted that he use the kitchen as though it’s his own. You expected him to make food only for himself, but today you woke up to two plates of scrambled eggs and bacon. After so many years of living alone, eating breakfast with someone else felt outlandish. Even during your childhood, you hardly ate breakfast with your family. Your father was always at work and… your mother was hardly ever around during your early years. Eating breakfast with Sugawara isn’t bad, though. He’s a good conversationalist and is patient with any verbal blunders you make.

He accepts your every mistake, to the point where it feels like he’s seeing through you. That unsettles you. Being unpredictable has always been a reliable defense mechanism. You don’t want to let the walls you’ve built around yourself crumble. You won’t let him make you feel.

Or maybe you’re just overthinking it.

On the third day, you get up at six-thirty AM and find him awake, again. How can someone stand waking up so damn early?

“Good morning,” He greets, smiling softly. You can see that he’s wearing one of your old aprons, the pink one with a cat face on it. It looks cute on him. “Did you sleep well?”

“I slept fine, Sugawara-san. How about you?” He looks so utterly natural in your home, like he’s always been here. For someone who was so hesitant and cautious on his first day, he’s certainly adapted to his surroundings. He still treats you politely, kindly, but you can tell that he’s comfortable. “You should really wake me up before you make breakfast, Sugawara-san. I feel guilty leaving all of it to you.” You hate feeling useless. Merely sitting and looking pretty has never suited you. You’ve always felt the need to contribute, but you struggle with actually starting.

Brief flashes of inspiration aren’t enough to live a healthy, productive lifestyle. Discipline is what you truly need. Motivation is fickle and fleeting. You never know how long it’ll last.

“It’s really no trouble,” Sugawara assures, giving you a concerned glance, “It’s the least I can do. You’ve been a really great host,” He feels the need to repay you? For what? It wasn’t your idea to have him stay here. You didn’t extend the invitation. He had been thrust into your life with hardly any warning. If the council hadn’t of sent him, you never would have met. “Besides, you always look so happy when you eat my food~ It lets me know I’m doing something right.” How could he do something wrong? That’s the question you want to ask. He’s been the model guest, this entire time.

“You’ve been great,” You don’t hesitate to tell him, “I mean, really. I was worried that the council was gonna send someone horrible. I’ve dealt with some pretty spoiled demigods in my lifetime, but you’re definitely not one of them.”

“You really think they would do that?” Sugawara questions, bacon sizzling in the skillet. You watch him slide the freshly-cooked meal onto a porcelain plate, positioned neatly next to the stove. The skillet gives crackling noise when he sets it on one of the inactive burners. The stove shuts off with the flip of a switch, and he slides a plate of delicious, freshly-cooked food in front of you. It’s still kind of weird, to have someone take care of you, like this.

“I know they would,” You reply, your tone frozen over with bitterness. Fortunately, he seems to understand that your anger is not directed at him. “They can’t just leave me alone, y’know?” It feels weird to confide in someone you’ve only known for two days, but Ai isn’t here and none of your other familiars haven’t shown up. Besides, they already know your problems. You’d just be complaining to them for the thousandth time. “I was lucky enough to be born with some pretty neat powers, and they were lucky that I wanted to help. Never said I wanted to be a goddess.”

“I’m… sorry.” Sugawara begins as though he’s unsure of what to say, but there’s sympathy in his voice. You lift your hand up to wave dismissively.

“No, it’s fine. Not your fault. You probably weren’t even around, back then.” He probably wasn’t even asked to come here, either. They just sent him, forced him into it. “I shouldn’t be unloading my problems on you, anyways. You’ve been a great guest.” Why are you only talkative when you’re bitching about your problems? You really can’t answer that question.

Sugawara looks much different than he ever has, before. There’s a haunted expression on his face, like he’s just unearthed some horrible, forbidden secret. Did he… not know? Damn, the council was playing dirtier than you thought they would! Apart of you is almost amused at his aghast face, because you’ve been dealing with this problem for years, now. If you didn’t laugh at it, you would go insane.

“I’m kind of surprised that they didn’t tell you, but also not. I mean—I haven’t been there in about ten years. So a lot of the messengers and celestials probably don’t know who I am, or they just don’t mention me. It’s old news.” You inform him with a shrug, hoping to make light of the situation. “So, let’s talk about you, instead. Whose kid are you?”

“Ryūjin is my father. My mother is a tengu.” Interesting. You can see that he’s inherited next to nothing from the ocean deity. Or, he’s just hiding it. You’re just glad that the tension in the room has dissolved.

“I’m impressed,” You drawl, “Didn’t think anyone would ever be interested in that scaly old motherfucker.” Sugawara gapes at your audacious comment, and you almost regret making it. “Uh—”

“Don’t worry about it!” His face blooms in a wide smile, “He wasn’t a very… good father. But he was a god so no one ever really stood up against him. It’s kind of refreshing to hear someone not be afraid of him!” You raised your eyebrows at that information. Were all gods shitty parents?

“Sorry to hear that.” You rub the back of your head. It seems that you have more in common with your guest than expected. You watch Sugawara take small bites of his breakfast, taking time to run your gaze over his soft features. He has a gentle face, with rounded cheeks and eyes. His complexion is pale as porcelain, no blemishes visible. The mole underneath his left eye is kind of cute… That’s the second time you’ve called him cute this morning.

Frustration boils underneath your skin at how familiar and natural all of this feels. You’ve only known him for two days! Maybe a little more! You can’t already be attached to him! You can’t already care so much! This is why you hate interacting with new people! You get too easily attached. It only makes it easier for people to hurt you. You have all you need, here. You don’t need anyone besides your familiars (even though they all have lives of their own and only visit once in awhile). You don’t need to meet new people or experience new things.

“Are you alright?” Sugawara’s soft voice snaps you out of your daze. A soft, pink hue spreads across your cheeks once you realize you were still staring at him. You sheepishly turn your gaze away, nodding.

You don’t need to make new friends. You don’t need company.

But when you see Sugawara smile at you, you feel the walls you’ve painstakingly built begin to crumble.

---

It’s lonely, here. Sugawara doesn’t know how you can stand it. It’s always quiet. It’s always cloudy. Sure, there are plenty of electronics, books, and other items to amuse himself with. But there’s a distinct difference between human interaction and playing video games alone. His father had warned him that you were unpredictable, that you had been isolated for ten years. He had knocked on your front door without knowing what to expect. Upon first entering, it was obvious that you were rusty with social interaction. He could clearly see the nervousness on your face and in your body language.

He immediately understood why he was the first guest to arrive. The council was definitely aware of his maturity, of his gentility. He was intuitive and responsible, a natural caretaker. As soon as he walked in, he knew that getting you to open up to him would be a challenge. He couldn’t help but be interested in you—a long forgotten, wayward goddess. He had seen brief mentions of you in scriptures and records, but there were no pictures of you. Not even any drawings or paintings.

Your presence was smaller and calmer than he expected. Of course, you were nervous. But you weren’t as volatile as his father made you out to be. You began to warm up to him on the second day.

It was his third day, here. Eating breakfast with you had been a surprisingly enlightening experience. He finally learned why you isolated yourself, and why you abandoned your godly duties. He was pleased to see that you felt comfortable enough to joke with him (even though you tried to take it back). Rome wasn’t built in a day. But you were progressing fast!

Right after breakfast, news that the second guest would be arriving came.

“I can’t believe it! They’re coming in two hours, Sugawara-san! Those assholes need to give me more time to prepare.” You huffed, scrubbing down the counter. The grey-haired man watched you, both fascinated and worried.

“You know that you can use magic to clean that, right?” He inquired, tipping his head. He swallowed nervously when you whipped around to look at him, gaze sharp as a knife. “It’ll be fine, okay? I’m sure that the council won’t send anyone too rowdy.” He tried to soothe you, watching as your shoulders slumped. You turned to look at him, expression weary. You clutched the dish towel tightly in your hand.

“I’m gonna be counting on you, here,” You murmured, before cringing. “No, I shouldn’t be. You’re the guest. I’m the host—”

“If this were a normal situation, then that would be the case,” Sugawara gently corrected, plucking the abused towel from your hand. You let him, “This was all forced on you. So let me help, alright? That’s what friends are for~!” He pretended to be confident about calling you his “friend”. Truthfully, he wasn’t sure about your feelings towards him. He certainly hoped that you would call yourself his friend.

Fake it ‘till you make it, right?

“Yeah.” He almost didn’t hear your soft murmur. His heart skipped a beat, a pleasant warmth fluttering in his chest. He tossed the soggy towel into a nearby laundry bin (positioned near the back of the kitchen), and made sure to give you a wide smile when he turned around.

It’s much. It’s one word, a single admission. But it’s a step forward, and that’s all that matters.

[neverreallythoughtaboutthefuture]

I have a (slightly) bad feeling about this...

Alright, after watching the teaser and the first trailer for “Pacific Rim: Uprising”, I have to admit that I’m still very confused regarding how I feel about the upcoming sequel…  Or how I’m “supposed to feel” regarding its current marketing strategy... First, I know that, within 10 years, there probably would have been some significant technological advances in the world since the war, and it’s likely normal that the new Jaegers would look the way they do – i.e. all shiny, sleek and new, and more or less built from the same overall platform. Still, those Jaegers (and the pilots inside) are moving so fluidly and effortlessly that it’s difficult for me to believe that they are huge, heavy pieces of complex machinery piloted by two tiny human beings. Some of the buildings surrounding the Jaegers also look a bit like what you’d expect to see in a videogame…  I’m not sure if that’s because they wanted to give the new post-war world a more futuristic look, or because they spent a little less time on animation and special effects than they did with the original movie (especially that scene here from 1:50 to 2:15 approx.).

 And you can pilot a Jaeger with just some kind of backpack suit and gloves now?  Once again, alright, I know, new technology, but still!

(Okay, I get that this character is a hacker (I think), and probably a genius, and she seems to have more or less built that Jaeger herself (or with some help) from scrap parts or something, because it appears to be much smaller and have a more rugged look with her feet stuck in some types of boots (as opposed to newer models), etc.  But even that idea seems the tiniest bit too much for me...).

I did expect the Jaegers themselves to be different, and able to do some new stuff (like yes, flying, and perhaps joining together to create a larger robot, etc.), but I think I was still expecting the pilots themselves to require to be a little more solidly strapped in, and still move like their bodies are the size of a skyscraper! Here, they just seem to be able to jump around in the Conn-pod and do acrobatics, and their Jaegers just… copy them?  I dunno…  Perhaps it will make more sense and look better in the actual movie when we get to see more than just quick bits and pieces of some scattered scenes, but I’m having a slightly hard time understanding how you can keep your balance in there doing a round kick with seemingly nothing attached to your feet or even the rest of your body!

Where’s the Conn-pod situated?  In the chest?  The head?  If you’re round kicking and the Jaeger is round kicking with you as well... Assuming you’re in the head of the robot, wouldn’t the platform you’re standing on be sharply shoved to the side while you’re trying to perform that move?

There was already a pretty huge level of suspension of disbelief required in “Pacific Rim” when it came to how well the pilots were able to sustain being thrown around in such large robots…  All you have to do is watch the scene in the beginning where Gipsy Danger collapses on the beach, and imagine that there’s a tiny human being in that head when it hits the ground from such height to know what I mean. Actually, the laws of physics didn’t quite seem to apply to the first movie in general, but the way it was filmed still made it feel so tangible that I was perfectly fine with stopping asking questions, and just going with it! Here, I’m not so sure… Unless they’ve somehow completely altered the gravity inside the Conn-pods?  Otherwise how are you two jumping like this with the lashes and staying suspended mid-jump in the air?  What’s going on?  How are you connected to the Jaeger’s body and sharing a common “nervous system” with it?

Or perhaps they are held in place by some sort of rig in their backs that is also allowing them to pivot? I’m trying to be open to these changes, I really am...  But one of the things I really loved about Guillermo Del Toro’s approach was how he was able to make fantasy look like it was firmly grounded in reality by giving us a solid sense of size and scale, and the illusion that it took a great amount of both physical and inner strength to pilot a Jaeger. Here, it somehow looks like you could easily put the two pilots in a Conn-pod that’s situated outside of the Jaeger to control it remotely, and it would basically do the same thing. I’d have an easier time believing that they’re inside their Jaeger if the Conn-pod was pivoting with them, at the very least...  Perhaps that’s what’s not visually working for me. From the looks of it, the floor of the Conn-pod is still perfectly aligned with the ground, and the ceiling with the sky....  But isn’t the big robot doing the same move as the pilots?  So why is the Conn-pod still perfectly leveled if it’s inside a Jaeger that no longer is? Does that mean the the Conn-pod itself is pivoting inside the Jaeger to compensate for the Jaeger’s movements at all times; therefore ensuring that the two pilots are in an environment where the floor they are standing on remains perfectly leveled, no matter what the Jaeger surrounding them does? Hopefully, the movie will expand more on this... Also, how old are those pilots? I feel like I’m going to be watching “Ender’s Game” meet “Pacific Rim”. Then again, with the previous generation of pilots now either dead, retired, or I suppose assuming positions of command, like Mako Mori, it makes sense that the new recruits could be pretty young… Chuck Hansen did start piloting a Jaeger when he was 16, so it seems that the PPDC does accept candidates that are younger than 17. I guess that, with pilots in the first movie aged 21 to 44, and the relationships between them being diverse (ex: father and son), I just didn’t expect this to be an all teenagers / very young adults (I doubt any of them are older than 25) team of pilots this time around. Actually, everything from the younger main cast to the music choice in the trailer (and the teaser) seems to be geared towards attracting a younger audience.  I’m not sure if that’s because they believe that most people who fell in love with the first movie were teenagers, or because they are hoping to make “Pacific Rim” more appealing to them by having new pilots that are easier for kids to relate to. Even the fact that the only movie novelization I’ve seen so far is called “Pacific Rim Uprising: The Junior Novel”, with the products details listed on Amazon as:

Age Range: 8 - 12 years

Grade Level: 3 - 7

Paperback: 160 pages

Publisher: Insight Kids (March 27, 2018)

Language: English

has me greatly concerned that the targeted audience of the sequel is indeed going pre-teens to teenagers, with very little thought given to more mature audiences. It also makes me question if they are going to be willing to take as many risks as they did in the first by sacrificing so many pilots to the war this time around... I mean yes, “Pacific Rim” was an homage to anime and kaiju-era movies...  But it was a very dark and gritty homage with the perfect balance between drama, humor, tragedy and hope...  People call it “silly” and a movie about “big robots punching monsters in the face!”, but you are given a 15 minutes opening that features two tightly bonded young pilot brothers that deeply kicks you in the guts! Then, the first time you see Cherno Alpha, Crimson Typhoon, and Striker Eureka all get together on a mission out there, two of those teams gets dispatched right away! I remember sitting in the theater looking at the screen in shock and disbelief while asking my friend “Wait.  Did that just happen?  Did they just kill those 2 teams after having barely introduced them - just like that?” And my friend, equally stunned, just going “Yes.  Yes they did.” That’s when shit for me got 100% real for me, and I knew that the movie wouldn’t fuck around.  Yancy had just been the beginning, and no one in this universe was safe.  The stakes got crazy high! So, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but as much as part of me hated the “there are no heroes in a world where heroes can’t die” mentally, it still profoundly resonated with me and gave the movie some weight. Because back then, I happened to be in a situation where I was very sick and disabled, and had to learn a very important lesson in order to be able to cope with and accept my condition - life isn’t fair, anyone can fall.  Bad things happen to good people, and sometimes nothing can be done about it no matter how hard you try to prevent it. (For everything else, there is fanfiction!  Lol!  And thank the PTB for that!) But yes, it broke my heart into a thousand tiny pieces to watch Chuck Hansen die before he was ever given a chance to finally figure out who he was, among others...  But all those things also had a profound psychological and emotional impact, and it did add to that sense of realism in an otherwise very unrealistic universe and movie. Guillermo Del Toro made me believe in the unbelievable.  He made me forget that it was a movie about giant robots punching giant monsters in the face, and experience that movie first and foremost through my heart.  I am also heavily crediting Travis Beacham for the screenplay, the actors for having brought those characters to life, and everyone else that took such great care in building that universe (set designs, costumes, etc.)... But I think that GDT is hugely responsible for giving the movie its soul in the way he directed the actors, and seemingly got involved in every little detail of the movie’s production, including the 3D conversion. This was a work of pure love, and it showed. And even today, the movie is still helping me cope with a certain level of survivor’s guilt, given that I now have access to proper medical cares and treatments; including monthly injections that have gotten rid of about 70% of my symptoms, and allowed me to start living again. .  Meanwhile, I still have friends, that are as ill as I was a year and a half ago, that are still looking for a diagnosis, are left without resources, or then again, share the same diagnosis but don’t respond well to the same treatment I’m taking, etc. It wasn’t fair that I was unable to leave my room most of the time for 7 years, and depended on others to prepare my meals and care for me...  And yet, it’s no more fair that I’m getting better now, when so many of those that are in similar situation aren’t getting better, or can’t... Anyone can fall...  Meaning all I can do is continue to care about those people, and help where I can.  Otherwise, I have to accept that sometimes, things are the way they are.  Life is not about what you deserve, or being fairly rewarded for your efforts; but simply about your ability to live with and take advantage of the resource you do have, while ideally finding ways to share those resources with others, when and if you can. Raleigh’s journey in “Pacific Rim”, to me, heavily reflected that.  Actually, pretty much every character shared a similar journey where they had to learn to trust in others, and let go of the things beyond control. Beyond the Jaegers and the Kaiju themselves, one of the key elements of “Pacific Rim” was that it was, in Del Toro’s words, a movie about “the world saving the world”: “I just wanted to show small stories of people trying to come together to survive, because I didn’t want to make a war movie.  I wanted to make an adventure movie about people who come from all over the world.  We have an African American leader, we have a Japanese girl, we have Korean-Chinese guy, we have an Australian team.  I wanted to show all the world coming together.  It’s not just two characters; among them all they don’t understand each other.  All of them have great differences.  And the thing is as the movie resolves you see these characters be above all those differences.  I wanted that.  I didn’t want to make it just, “Oh if these two guys only got along.”  Everybody, everybody, which is like a movie set.  On a movie set if you don’t come together, we are all very different, but it works.  I really love the idea of coming together without a certain jingoist or, you know, this or this side saved the work.  Everybody did.” That’s why I find many debates regarding who’s the protagonist of the original movie sort of silly, and, like I’ve expressed before, I see Raleigh Becket as being more or less a leading character in a supportive role.  i.e. The story is no more about him than it is about any other character.  Once again, anyone can fall, and anyone in life will do what they can with the internal and external resources they have. Sometimes, someone just happens to be at the right place at the right time with the right resources, and they wind up getting the credit for something that was built through the efforts of countless others before and/or with them. Though history and society will generally tend to remember the leaders, and/or those that used what was done before them to innovate and come up with something groundbreakingly new, we are all connected. Raleigh basically just happens to be the character introducing us to the world of “Pacific Rim”, and whose story arc we are invited to follow first.  But every character in the movie has their own stories, doubts, and issues to come to terms with before they can all save the world together.  And that’s why I’ve connected with this movie so strongly, and why I love it so much. So, regarding the teaser that was first presented to us, for me, in terms of marketing strategy, it heavily missed the mark of what the first movie had been all about. I’m wondering if that was meant to show that, while the Kaiju were gone, world leaders have all been essentially patting themselves on the back on a job well done and taking credit for it.  Were they trying to convey that humanity, once again, has learned very little from history, and its ego has inflated to the point where suddenly Jaegers became all about “Look how awesome we are, and always have been!”, and “Why pilot a Jaeger?  Because YOU’re worth it!” Were they trying to convey that, in the future, humanity has gone back to the mentality of the “glory days” where Jaeger pilots used to be rock stars, and people thought Kaiju no longer posed any significant threat? Was that teaser meant to be an actual recruiting video that would fit within the mindset of that universe, 10 years in the future (which could make sense, and would therefore sort of make up for how weirdly self-centered it was)? Or was it simply how the marketing team in charge of “Pacific Rim: Uprising” chose to promote the movie, thinking that this is what audiences, nowadays, would get massively excited about? Because, yes, I do love Jaegers.  And, of course, John Boyega is a wonderful actor and a pure treasure that can totally rock that drivesuit! But where is the sense that Jaegers are only as good as their pilots (plural), and the stronger the bond between them, the better they fight?  Why having made the choice to show a single Ranger alone (unless that teaser was made very quickly to present fans with some form of publicity, and he was the only actor available to shoot it)? And quite frankly, I don’t personally give a single damn about Jaegers being “me” times a thousand! What is a Jaeger? A Jaeger is the very embodiment of the deep trust and empathy shared by two (or more) people who genuinely love each other regardless of the type of relationship they share.  A Jaeger is that love and that bond times a thousand – two (or more) beating hearts made one that burn as bright as the sun, and have the power to move mountains! You become the most heroic version of yourself through your connection with others – through learning to balance your own needs with theirs, and using the potential you have been gifted with to serve the common good. This is what “Pacific Rim” was all about to me, and this is the message that the teaser, as far as I’m concerned, has sadly failed to convey. And while the actual trailer does show pilots fighting together, and present them all working together as a team and joining forces to survive, once again there’s something slightly off about the vibe I’m getting from it.  Like it’s a movie that is a lot more about new cool Jaegers, and how they and the Kaiju have evolved, rather than the complex human connections that are required to power up those Jaegers. I know I’m probably overthinking this, and most people are likely just going “Whoohoohoo!  NEW ROBOTS, WEAPONS AND KAIJU!  COOL FIGHTS! AWESOME DUDE!” And, like my partner told me, “No matter what they do, given everything the original represents for you and why it means so much, I’m not sure anything else they could ever come up with will ever measure up.” And maybe he’s right. But still, instead of getting me all excited for the sequel, what the teaser and the trailer have managed to do is confuse the Anterverse out of me! Now, I’m sort of scared that they essentially took shortcuts with this movie by using elements of what they thought made the first one so popular with the (apparently young) public, but without understanding the deeper message behind the story, and/or Guillermo Del Toro’s vision of that universe. Every little detail in “Pacific Rim”, from the set pieces to the colors that were used, were filled with tons of symbolism and meaning.  4 years later, I still continue to discover and notice new little things every time I watch it. I’m not expecting the new director to copy Guillermo Del Toro’s style or use the same symbolism, but I’m hoping he’ll find ways to put nearly as much love and thought into every scene, and that the sequel will hopefully have as much depth and soul to it, too. Offer us beautiful robots, monsters, and actions scene, yes; but don’t forget what the movie was about first and foremost – the power, beauty and complexity of human connection. Another thing that sort of completely turned me off about the teaser is the choice of music. The Pacific Rim’s main theme is one of the most addictive and distinctive movie themes I’ve ever heard. The first few notes start to play, and that’s it!  I’m back in that world!

Even the movie trailers of the first installment chose a soundtrack that had strong elements of pure epicness to it.

For example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5guMumPFBag , and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUR1IoPdBg8 Everything felt like it was larger than life and imposing. While that “I’m a Beast” song, combined with the would-be flattering message “a Jaeger is YOU times a thousand and tall as a mountain”, seems to have been put out there to appeal to self-centered and easily influenced kids in search of thrills who are supposed to go “Oh yeah man!  I’m a Jaeger, I’m a beast, I’m so cool, dude!” Maybe I’m getting too old for this (I was born barely 6 months after Herc Hansen, after all).  But, to me, it basically looked like the teaser was meant to be the equivalent of a sports car line publicity, with Jaegers replacing the cars! I just…  I don’t get it.  Yeah, this worked for the PPDC’s glory days, I suppose; and if the world has reverted back to that mentality, then please, by all means!  But still, I’m hoping it’s just a phase, and they’ll move out of it soon. And, while the music in the trailer itself takes back some elements of the original soundtrack, it’s weirdly mixed with a rap song, and combined with videogame looking CGI.  Somehow, this makes me feel like I’ve just stepped into a completely different world that has very little to do with the massive scope and depth of the original. Don’t get me wrong, I can appreciate a good rap song remixed with a movie theme every now and then...  But here, I find it to be heavily distracting, and it makes me disconnect from that sense of awe I get every time I watch those huge robot titans appear on screen in the trailers the original “Pacific Rim”. It works for movies like “The Fast and the Furious”, but here it messes with the overall tone, and gives me the impression that the robots are once again an oversized version of a sports car and next thing you know we’ll be watching them racing each other for thrills! If they keep at it, I’ll start nicknaming that sequel “Pacific Rim: Tokyo Drift”. That being said, there are a few things I’m excited about. Like the return of Mako Mori, Newton Geiszler, Hermann Gottlieb, and the fact that Gipsy Avenger looks like the child Gipsy Danger and Striker Eureka would have had together if Jaegers could make little Jaegers.  Although I am slightly concerned about how they will be using those beloved characters in the new installment. I’m also glad that John Boyega seems like such a huge fan of the first movie, and therefore hoping that’s a good sign, and the storyline will remain true to the first movie, and the extended universe that we’ve gotten thus far. I’m also curious regarding how they will be explaining Jake’s Pentecost backstory, and why Stacker and Mako have never mentioned him in the original movie.  Was Stacker even told he had a son (otherwise, I would have expected him to have some parting words for him as well, regardless of whether Jake was there or not, considering that the missions are usually recorded and/or Mako, Herc, or anyone else who would hopefully survive the mission could have relayed his father’s words to him), and how old was he when his father died? And looking at Stacker’s own backstory, i.e. his father having been killed in a fight with a club owner (where his mother was performing) when he was only 10, and little 10-year-old Stacker burning that club down and attacking the club owner in response… Well… It seems that little Pentecost babies tend to take losing their fathers very seriously, and will come after whatever is responsible for their death with everything they’ve got, apparently.  Which I do find rather interesting. Otherwise, I’m also a little concerned regarding how they will handle Raleigh, Herc, and even Tendo’s absence from the movie… Basically, I still plan on going to see it, but I’m having huge mixed feelings about it, and trying to keep my expectations as low as humanly possible (going down to the breach deep under the Pacific ocean to be sure...). That being said, please don’t let my own doubts, concerns, and personal preferences keep you from being all psyched about the new sequel, and loving the teaser and trailer to death! Truth is, if the original had never existed, and that trailer had been my very first introduction to anything “Pacific Rim”, there’s a possibility I would have been jumping up and down, cheering, and unable to wait to see that movie! I do love “Transformers” (in general), used to be a huge fan of “Power Rangers”, and my favorite TV show as a small child growing up was “Goldorak” (in English “UFO Robot Grendizer”). But “Pacific Rim” had a very different and unique feel to it that felt inspired by those series, without exactly becoming them.  “Go Go PPDC Rangers!” doesn’t sound quite right in my mind... Except here.  Probably the only place where I want to see those two related.  Lol!